Understanding the Taliban and Insurgency in Afghanistan - Term Paper Example

Taliban Insurgency Student’s Name Course Tutor Date Introduction The Taliban refers to an Islamist political and militant organization that propelled itself to the seat of power and ruled almost the entire Afghanistan not leaving the capital, Kabul from September 1996. The Taliban is a component of the holy warriors known as mujahideen that sprang up during the Soviet Union occupation of the nation from 1979 to 1989. Upon withdrawal of the Soviet troops, the Soviet backed Afghan government did not withstand the strength of mujahideen, thus lost footing to them. The Taliban exerted their authority by capturing Kabul and setting up a government in 1992. Its interim president was Burhanuddin Rabbani, but due to lack of understanding and cooperation, the various factions of the militant group started quarreling amongst themselves. The country was eventually reduced to territories under the control of numerous armed factions. Close examination of the Taliban movement shows that it is largely embraced by Pashtun tribes, which is the largest in the country. The rise to power by Taliban Groups of religious students known as taliban were united on the basis of their geographical locations during the military occupation by the Soviet Union and the civil war. Although they had the potential of forming a large force, there were no signs of unity until taliban of Kandahar decided to initiate a move in 1994. In that year, a selection of well-trained taliban was carried out by the Pakistani authorities to provide protection for a delegation that was mandated to open a business corridor to Central Asia from Pakistan (Nasir, 2011).The initiative proved worthwile as they were able to defeat rival warlords and mujahideen. This provided the taliban with the motivation and impetus to take Kandahar city, which spread to other urban centers until it reached the country’s capital, Kabul in September 1996. According to Jayshree (2011), many of the people who enlisted in the Taliban were former members of mujahedin who had been disillusioned with the constant conflicts that characterized the mujahedin parties. Many of them crossed border into Pakistan to take up Islamic studies in the Islamic seminaries known as madrassas. Owing to the fact that most of the movement members were from Pashtun tribe, most of the Taliban practices were in line with the conservative traditions of the tribe. The Taliban therefore viewed the interim government headed by Rabbani very corrupt as well as anti-Pashtun, thus the civil war that broke out in 1992 and ended in 1996 created a popular support in favor of Taliban as having the ability to bring stability. Ascending to power of the Taliban brought a lot of changes to societal governance of the country. For example, the Taliban enforced a very strict interpretations of the Muslim law referred to as Sharia law, thus gained notoriety for their inhumane treatment of women. They were not required to get out of their homes, go to school and expose their bodies. The Taliban military supports were from the Central Asian and Arab armed groups as well as the Pakistani Army. A rare support also came from Al Qaeda, which was instrumental in providing the rag-tag militia organization with imported troops from Central Asia and some Arab nations. The foreign militia involvement was evident when it emerged that about 44,000 troops fighting for Taliban ideologies and rule, only about 15,000 were native Afghans. The influence of the Taliban spread its wings to include northwestern Afghanistan, which was a clear indication why the Western governments were furious with their Pakistani counterparts for supporting terrorism. The popularity of the militant organization with the people of Afghan was due to the fact that most of them were tired of constant conflicts and killings, and were looking for a system that can restore peace and eliminate rampant corruption (Nasir, 2011). Afghanistan under the Taliban The Taliban, who were under the command of their spiritual leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, brought about several changes to effectively institute its administration, thus brought about very strict interpretation of Islamic law known as Sharia. Public punishments and executions became the order of the day and for militant administration to eliminate Western influence, which it considered non-Islamic, it banned watching of television, listening to music and use of internet. Men were also compelled to grow beards, and violations resulted in thorough beating. In sharp contrast to Taliban’s strict and strange beliefs, the group immensely profited from operations of smuggling goods especially contraband electronics as well as growing and selling of opium. Opium production did not survive for long as they eventually succumbed to international pressure thus mounted a huge crackdown on the cultivation of opium. By the end of 2000, the Taliban claimed that they had slashed the production of opium by almost 75 percent. The opium crackdown brought economic woes as most Afghans were totally deprived of their source of livelihood Jayshree, B (2011).Although the militant regime secured the re-unification of the country, they were not able to put to end the raging civil war. They were not lucky either in improving the living standards of the people as most cities and urban centers lacked clean running water, soaring unemployment and also lack of food. Things were made worse for the Taliban’s rule when harsh drought and winter that struck the country in 2000 and 2001 brought with it famine thus cross-border migration of refugees to Pakistan in search of food. Religious and Cultural basis for the Taliban In relation to the history of Aghanistan, the rise of the Taliban was not anticipated. The country is purely a Muslim state with about 90 percent of the population being Sunni Muslims while the rest constituting 10 percent are Shiites and Sufis. The establishment of religious institutions was done upon the arrival of Islam in the seventh century, thus taliban became a significant component of the social affairs thus managing mosques, schools, social and religious services and occasionally offering their services as mujahideen when applicable. Many of the current leaders of the group received their elementary and higher education in Pakistan where they sought refuge from the Soviet military incursion. While in Pakistan as refugees, the group benefitted from the services offered by Jami'at-e 'Ulema-e Islam (JUI), which is a Pakistani political party that generously provided numerous welfare services, elementary education as well as military training for the Afghan refugees. The political party also established religious institutions in accordance with Deobandi tradition. The Deobandi tradition emerged as a movement agitating for reforms in British India with the fundamental aim of making Islam as a religion have vibrancy in a colonial territory. The movement became predominant in Pakistan upon its curving from India. The Deobandi schools in the refugee camps were mainly managed by uneducated and inexperienced clerics called mullahs. Furthermore scholarships and educational financing provided by the Saudi government during the Soviet occupation only served to bring closer the institutions’' curricula in principle to the conservative ideologies characterizing Wahhabi tradition. Strong relationships were established between the Taliban and such elementary schools, and as evident, when the Taliban suffered defeat in the town of Mazar-i-Sharif, one of the largest religious schools in Pakistan closed its doors for over a month and forwarded its students to the war fronts in Afghanistan to provide reinforcements to the Taliban. Challenges to Taliban unification While in the face of the general public Taliban displays a strong message of a reform movement, the group has been over the time criticized by Islamic scholars as having no adequate education in regard to the Islamic law as well as history. As discussed by Ansari (2010), their haphazard implementation of sharia law significantly reflects a combination of Wahhabi ideologies such as putting a ban on playing musical instruments and tribal custom such as making it mandatory to cover the face with birka by all Afghan women. Although the civil war went on until the end of 2001, it did not go unchallenged, thus the strongest opposition to Taliban’s influence came from the Northern Alliance that occupied about 10 percent of the country. The Northern Alliance comprised of many factions that were not in support of Taliban regime, which is vehemently led by the ousted former president Burhanuddin Rabbani. Factually, the Taliban factions are known for religious and ethnic breakdown and are largely made up of Pashtuns. The Northern Alliance has no religious unification but consist of minority groups such as Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmen and Hazara. The Ismaili community that also felt undermined and tormented at the hands of the Taliban lent their assistance to the Northern Alliance. Although the militant group called for a peaceful negotiation to bring the civil war to an end, new offences were fronted by it. For example, in September 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud, the commander of the rival militant faction, Northern Alliance succumbed to injuries sustained in a suicide bombing carried out by the Taliban with the help of al-Qaeda (Pashtun Taliban Insurgenc, 2010). Opposition in the wake of international concern Anti-Taliban groups and governments of the West have been countering the resistance of Taliban through diverse tactical maneuvers since 2001. The Northern alliance denounced their collaboration with fundamentalists, thus has been instrumental in assisting the allied forces led by the US in routing Taliban after the 9/11 terrorist attack of American land. The war of propaganda has been extensively used by the Taliban to convince the locals that the Western military and the Western instituted Afghan government are the fundamental threat to their well being in terms of security. As was the case before terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, Western governments’ dealings with the outlawed militant group involved a blend of soft power and diplomacy. But as evident in its last moments in power, the militant group gradually faced isolation and hence faced harsh political and economic sanctions from the UN Security Council. Under the p[residency of Bill Clinton, the US administration held direct talks with the Taliban, though Washington at no time recognized it as the official government authority of Afghanistan. Several resolutions by the Security Council strongly directed Taliban to end its derogative treatment of people especially women. This was followed by the closure of Afghan embassy in August 1997 following an order from the American Department of State. According to Afsar, Samples and Wood (2008), the Taliban rule was met with more international outcry and surveillance for its uncouth policies. As mentioned earlier, only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates fully recognized the regime as a legitimately instituted government. However, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack the UAE and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia discontinued the diplomatic links with the regime. This was in retaliation of the laxity of Taliban to allow terrorist organizations to comfortably run terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. This was manifested by the militan6t group providing a safe haven for Osama bin Laden and his terrorist outfit, the al-Qaeda. The ideological relationship between al-Qaeda and the Taliban strengthened, which resulted in Osama providing funds to the activities of the Taliban, and interestingly, one of Laden’s daughters was alleged to have married the Taliban de facto leader Mullah Muhammad Omar. The resolutions that were passed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) compelling Taliban to stop supporting terrorism and arrest bin Laden to face trial were in vain. The Taliban were fully aware of the importance of international ties but were not steadfast in doing that. For example, the regime ignored international appeal not to destroy the 2000 year old Buddhist statues situated in Bamian. They also demonstrated lack of commitment to end terrorism with Afghanistan, a policy that finally led to their invasion by Western troops. The Taliban did not rest their culture of Islamic radicalism after being driven out of power, as they embarked on a mission of destabilizing other nations in the region as noted in China, Uzbekistan, Iran and not sparing the closest ally, Pakistan Jayshree, B (2011).The militant’s group closer ties with Pakistan is both geographical and ethnic for a good proportion of the Taliban are basically Pashtuns, which constitute of a good portion of the minorities in Pakistani military. Public support for the militant group amongst the Pashtun has been a record high especially in the North-West Province where insurgencies have been held in support of Taliban groups. They also resorted to emulating the orthodox practices of the regime by oppressing women and performing public executions. Early supporters of the Taliban growth During the period of Soviet occupation of the country in the 1980s, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia cooperated with the American CIA to effectively arm the mujahedeen who were not in support of Communism. After the withdrawal of Soviet troops, Afghanistan was not a priority of the Americans anymore, but Pakistan and Saudi Arabia continued their generous support. Involvement of Pakistan in Afghanistan strategically served its interests, thus more than helping Taliban, it was also a way of countering the influence of India. Although Pakistan and Saudi Arabia discontinued their support after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it is still believed that the militant group is still receiving help from Pakistan in terms of military and economic aid, which is essentially taken as their proxies for their future influence in the country once the international coalition forces pull out. In order to paint a good picture of the country, Pakistani authorities have over the years vehemently denied cooperating with the Taliban, which it sought to clarify by sending thousands of troops to its border with Afghanistan as a sign of full commitment to stop the Taliban infiltrations. In response to this, the Pakistani Taliban started to fight in 2002 to counter the Pakistani troops’ incursions of destroying the militants in the tribal hideouts. The US administration has also pointed strong accusing fingers to Iran for supporting the Taliban by supplying weapons to the militant group, this was evident by Iranian made arsenals including bombs that have ended up killing hundreds of US troops in Afghanistan. The role being played by Tehran is a very interesting one because in 2001, Iran was at the forefront to assist US destroy the Taliban administration, but in recent times, international and military experts believe that strategic interests of Tehran have perfectly blended with the militant group’s ideologies, thus from a strategic concept, Tehran holds the Taliban as a beneficial enemy that is perfectly undermining the American interests, its enemy. The Taliban's Resurgence in the wake of coalition forces According to Najibullah (2011), although many radical leaders as well as supporters of the Taliban were killed, arrested or fled, many of them also returned to their native places where they continued working for the group’s course. This has been demonstrated by the running away to safety of the militant group leader, Mullah Omar. The reign of the current Afghan president has been easy as regional Taliban warlords have continued to exercise their regional influence and power. In 2003, there was escalation of attacks of allied forces as the Taliban backed by the al-Qaeda started regrouping. The Taliban went on with their attack in 2005 and 2006, but the most dangerous attacks were experienced in 2006. Taliban militants made their ways in southern Afghanistan and terrorized the locals as well as attacking US and Afghan soldiers. The same year saw the launch of Operation Mount Thrust, which ensured deployment of about 10,000 coalition and Afghan forces in southern region. When NATO troops joined the military operations by replacing the American led coalition forces in August 2006, it launched one of the largest military attacks that killed over 2000 Taliban fighters. The signing of a peace accord by the then Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf with Pakistan Taliban in September 2006 brought more suspicion with the Western governments. As mentioned Region (2007), as a result of that agreement the Pakistani government was compelled to pullout its troops from the region to give room for the Taliban rule themselves, with the only condition of no militant activities against Pakistani and Afghanistan troops. Critics were quick to point out that the peace agreement only helped to give the terrorists a safe haven of operations. Others have also said that a military measure on the Taliban is not feasible as it will give rise to more agitated militants and the only way out is containment. The Taliban did not take the Pakistani government seriously, which promoted Pakistan to throng back to action as witnessed by the 2007 clashes between the radical Islamists and government soldiers as well as students at Red Mosque in Islamabad. The government secured the mosque after the first clash, thus arrested several students and the senior most cleric of the mosque, Maulana Abdul Aziz was arrested in his bid to escape. Pakistani troops were forced to kill Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who took the mantle of the mosque upon arrest of Aziz. It was reported that more than eighty people were killed in the fracas. The Taliban stepped up their military campaign in the remote parts to retaliate the raid. The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai has not fully gained footage in governing the country because since he assumed power with the help of the Western governments, he only has a paltry control over large portions of the country, which is rife with militants, warlords, and drug dealers. A report released in August 2007 by the United Nations indicated that opium production in Afghanistan doubled in a period of two years and that about 95 percent of the heroin supply globally is from Afghanistan. The Taliban leader in Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud was killed by the C.I.A. directed drone in 2009 in a remote region called South Waziristan. His manhunt was launched on the suscpision that he was behind the terrorist attack of the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad that killed Benazir Bhutto and other suicide bombers. Despite meeting his death in the intelligence attack, the militant group continued its resurgence in both Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2009. In fact, the militant organization has been for a series of violence that rocked Afghanistan prior to the presidential election, which was a clear indication of causing havoc, and disrupts the election process and brings more instability to the shaky nation. In order to continue with insurgency, the Taliban duped the Karzai led administration into a negotiation by sending an imposter. The meeting was held in Pakistan with Taliban commanders whose identities were not revealed before hand so as to prevent rival groups from retaliating against them. One of the prominent Taliban leaders, the second in command, who was strongly believed to be Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour was in fact represented by an imposter who made the Afghan and NATO troop delegation to held high profile talks with him (Reid, 2010). The Taliban unifying ideology The strict and anti-change ideology that does no tolerate the essence of globalization has been described by international relations and Arab affairs experts as an innovative form of Muslim law as it combines tribal codes of Pashtun with more radical interpretations of the Sharia by Deobandi. To enhance the ideology was pan-Islamism as forwarded the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the concept of jihadism. The Taliban ideology was a perfect example of departure from the Islamism practiced and propagated by mujahideen leaders who were opposed to Soviet invasion. The Taliban therefore replaced the traditionalists and other Islamicists who got their inspiration from the Muslim Brotherhood. The immediate aim of the Taliban was to ensure complete disarmament of the rival militant groups, fight to defeat those who were defying their authority to disarm. The Islamic law was to be the order of the day in the liberated areas Jayshree, B (2011).The Taliban’s strategic objective for the country, the institution of sharia, rolled out as a source of strength for the group as the rival groups had not conceptualized on any agenda and their vision was neither clear nor stated objectively. In fact, they had a vision of an Islamic state devoid of Western culture by the end of the twentieth century. The Taliban religious establishment was purposefully meant for the civil society as opposed to the state, thus it was to serve legal and moral purposes and not politics. The religious leaders were not involved in the politics of the day and when it came to the matters of state, they had a negative response. Conclusion As matters stand in Afghanistan, the neo-Taliban has managed to capitalize on some main characteristics of anti-Soviet invasion jihad. The total rejection of the Soviet invasion provided an important link between nationalism and Islam in the country. It also provided an impetus to the Deobandi concept that the only way the country can gain its Islamic glory was to have a full liberation from foreign powers. The Taliban also build on the concept of the anti-Soviet mujahedeen that allowed the association between violence and atheism. It is therefore imperative to say that the Afghan historical record demonstrates that the power play has always shifted from the tribal structure to the religious structure. References Afsar, S, Samples, C, & Wood, T (2008). The Taliban: an organizational. Retrieved on 22 November 2011 from analysis Read More