Cultural Analysis and History of the Taliban Community - Case Study Example

Culture Analysis of a Chosen Community and Identify Its Information Needs Introduction A community is a group of people who share the same characteristics. Sociologists define a community as a social organization which is based on small groups. These groups can be neighborhoods, a small town or a spatially enclosed area. However, anthropologists define community as groups that are defined by the same culture. In other usages, a community can be a political community where the important dimension is self governance, citizenship, civil society and collective identity. There is also another type of community which shares the same ideologies. This is the definition of community by historians and philosophers. (Gerard Delanty, 2003) Its definition depends on which criterion is used to categorize the population under consideration. This paper aims to describe all aspects of a selected community. I have chosen Taliban as the community under discussion. Taliban is a cultural, ideological and a political community and has a history and presence that has changed how the world operates. History Taliban is a word derived from the Persian word 'Talib' which means religious student. (William Maley, 1998) It started off with a group of a couple of hundred people who got educated in Madurassas or Islamic Schools. They were mostly from the Pashtun ethnic group which constitutes for 40 percent of the Afghan population. (Ahmed Rashid, 2002) They did not gain popularity until soviets left Afghanistan and different cliques and divisions started fighting amongst themselves for control. The Afghan Population got sick of how things were working in Afghanistan as there was no law and order maintained in the country, the infrastructure was completely destroyed and in short, Afghanistan was on the verge of becoming a Failed State. The almost failed state needed a well organized government which had no other interests other than the well being of the country. Taliban was perfect for this and soon it managed to take over Kabul and Kandahar, the two most important cities of Afghanistan because of their strategic locations. Law and order was brought back in Afghanistan and people saw a change. There were a couple of events which led for the popularity of Taliban within and out of Afghanistan. It rescued a Afghan Family and a Pakistani trade convey from gangs. It got supported from the Pakistan Intelligence because it wanted Taliban to protect its trade convoy and other personal motives. It also got support from various other countries. The United States of America supported Taliban because it could see stabilization of Afghanistan under their rule. Saudi Arabia supported Taliban because it was a Sunni movement which is a sect in Islam and United Arab Emirates also supported Taliban for the same reason. Taliban being a Sunni movement would be against the Muslims of Iran and would benefit Saudi Arabia and UAE. Culture The culture of the Taliban is not uncommon in the area where they are bred. They belong to tribes which have their own governance system in which and their ideology is basically extremism when it comes to their religion and they were on the whole anti modern. They believe in giving women little or no power. Therefore, it was not surprising to see how they ruled Afghanistan. The rule under Taliban imposed extreme understanding of the Islamic Law which was not the most practical and acceptable approach of running a country in the twentieth century. The women were forced to wear burqas, a kind of robe that covers the body from head to toe. They were not allowed to get education after the age of eight. The girls' gross enrollment ratio by 25.6 just before Taliban took over Kabul in 1995. It was 32 and it fell to 6.4 in 1999. (American Institute for research, 2006) The men were all forced to keep beards and wear turbans. Non Muslims were to wear different coloured clothes which would distinguish them. Music, TV, videos, cards, kite-flying was all banned. (Ahmed Rashid, 2002) The Taliban are Sunnis. This is a sect in Islam which has its beliefs somewhat similar to Arabism, the ideology of the Muslims of Saudi Arabia and this got them support from various other countries. They were against the Shias which is another Islamic sect and is popular in Iran. The language that is spoken by the members of Taliban is Pashto which is also a very commonly spoken language in Afghanistan and North West Frontier Province in Pakistan. It is in their culture for children to start learning how to use guns from a very young age which is the reason why they grow up to be so dominating. Democracy cannot be accepted within Taliban because they have been under tribal governance from the beginning. This needs to be understood by America right now before they try to implement democracy in areas where it is not practical because of the culture. Population The Taliban in the beginning was a group of young students of Islam. However, now they are no longer young and they have evolved into a diverse network of different groups and individuals. The pure Taliban were the people who grew up in refugee camps in Pakistan during the time the soviets were in power. (Ron Synovitz, 2008) Taliban was loosely organized on a regional basis during the occupation of soviets and also during the civil war in Afghanistan after they left. Taliban was a huge forces but they kept hidden until in 1994 when they made their move by taking over Kandahar. They emerged as a huge, united, well trained, goal oriented force. (Laura Hayes, Borgna Brunner, and Beth Rowen, 2007) The population number of Taliban is not confirmed but is estimated to be in the 10,000 range in 2006. (Ion Zwitter, 2006) However, most Taliban members are now hidden because of threats from the western world and also the Taliban population has greatly declined after the 2001 takeover of Afghanistan by America. The leading members are all Males and no females are involved in activities of the movement. Infrastructure Taliban came into power at the time when the first priority was to improve the condition of the country so that it would not become a failed state. It was also not even in power long enough to improve the infrastructure of the country. The physical infrastructure of Afghanistan was all destroyed after the soviets left the country. The country was in the hands of warlords who were fighting amongst themselves. When Taliban came into power, there were a lot of other issues that needed attention other than the infrastructure. The law and order needed to be brought back. Therefore, during the Taliban rule, the physical infrastructure was not given that much of attention. The roads, hospitals, schools etc were all damaged during their time. Rather, schools for women were demolished. According to a report by NGOs who studied education in Afghanistan, by 1998, in Kabul, 100 NGO-supported girls' schools and home-based vocational training programs were closed down by the Taliban. (American Institute for Research, 2006) This condition was not improved until America intervened and built roads and schools in the country. However, there is a constraint here as well as the Taliban insurgents are making it impossible for girls to go to schools and get education. The teachers and students are both targeted which makes it very difficult for the education sector to improve. Similarly, the social infrastructure was the same. The only social organizations were meetings in Islamic schools to decide on ways to impose strict conservative Islamic law. Under their rule, there was no activity for leisure. They were banned by the government because according to them, all these activities waste time and mental energy. Lastly, Taliban has a culture of fundamentalism and conservatism. They believe in strict imposition of Islamic or Shariah rules. The culture of music, theatre and arts completely finished during the time they were in power. According to their laws, music, kite-flying, cinemas and everything related to arts was banned. This largely affected the cultural infrastructure of Afghanistan. Politics Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. They stopped getting support from the United States when they realized that the women's rights were being violated. They were suppressed under the new government. After the 9/11 when America asked Taliban to give away Osama Bin Laden who was apparently hiding there, and when Taliban refused, this resulted in them losing their power. They lost support from various countries as they were seen as an organization that supported terrorism. However, we can now at present see the phenomenon of Taliban remerging because of the unpopularity of the foreign occupation in Afghanistan and also because of the huge revenue Taliban is getting from poppy trade. This gives them the ability to buy weapons, people and other equipment which would help them rise back to power. Geography Before Taliban got into power, they were mostly located in the tribal areas of Pakistan on the west of the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. This is basically the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The area is lawless and is governed by conservative tribal leaders. When they rose to power, they were mostly located mostly in the cities of Kandahar and Kabul. After the attack of America on Afghanistan, Taliban fled back into the lawless border of Afghanistan and Pakistan where they started training new people, building new armies and strategizing new conspiracies against the west and the modern world. At present they hide in the porous mountain regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan and fight against American and NATO forces. They also have their training camps in Madurassas or Islamic Schools in a few unknown places in Pakistan. Information Needs Taliban is a community that has affected foreign policies of various countries. It might not be a large community but it is transnational. This means that whatever Taliban does has impact on countries all over the world. Therefore this is a very important reason why it is necessary to understand what Taliban is and what its motives are. The information will help us understand them and end the intellectual deficit that the west has with such communities. This was largely why America is failing the Afghan war. They had an intellectual deficit with the people of Afghanistan and they invaded without considering ground realities. Information like this will identify these gaps and we can overcome them. This information can also be used as an insight when studying cultures all over the world. Avoiding Social and Information Exclusion In the end I will attempt to identify ways to avoid information and social exclusion. A few measures can be undertaken that will ensure this. For instance, changes could be brought in the culture that will ensure that nobody is excluded. Laws and policies must be imposed that will also ensure this. For instance laws that will decrease economic inequality should be imposed. Also, gender discrimination should be finished. Laws must imposed that would give women equal rights as men. Education opportunities must be increased for the women under Taliban. Conclusion Taliban is a transnational community which has impact all over the world. It is very important to understand the culture of the community. Its culture is very anti-modern. Not something that is commonly seen in today's world therefore, it is difficult to understand why the community is the way it is. This is the reason why there is an intellectual deficit and we need to remove that. Most international organizations consider the activities of Taliban as human rights violations but in reality, the people are so accustomed to live under those conditions that now that America is trying to find a way out for them, the Afghanis are again supporting the Taliban insurgents. Cultural relativism is a concept which explains differences in cultures. This concept must be kept in mind when understanding other cultures. Concepts such as universalism inhibit understanding of cultures all over the world. For example, when America tried to impose democracy in Afghanistan, it did not land on fertile ground, because the people were so accustomed to living the way they were under the Taliban government. References 1. Ahmed Rashid, Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia. I.B. Tauris. (2002) 2. Gerard Delanty, Community, Routledge. (2003) 3. William Maley, Fundamentalism Reborn: Afghanistan and the Taliban 4. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. (1998) 5. Ron Synovitz. "Afghanistan: Taliban Evolves Into Network Of Groups." 2008. Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty. 18 May 2008. 6. Laura Hayes, Borgna Brunner, and Beth Rowen. "Who Are the Taliban" 2007 Information Please. 18 May 2008 7. Ion Zwitter, "Taliban Strengthen Grip on People's Republic of South Dakota". Avant News. 9 March 2006. 8. Hassan Mohammed. Education and the Role of NGOs in Emergencies. American Institute for Research. 2006 Read More