Yale University Press NEW HAVEN & 9 780300"089028 - Sito Mistero
Yale University Press NEW HAVEN & 9 780300"089028 - Sito Mistero Yale University Press NEW HAVEN & 9 780300"089028 - Sito Mistero
20 ISLAM OIL AND THE NEW GREAT GAME IN CENTRAL ASIAwas located at the intersection of ancient trade routes - eastwards acrossjthe Bolan Pass to Sind, the Arabian Sea and India and westwardsHerat and Iran. The city was the main crossing point for trade, artscrafts between Iran and India and the city's numerous bazaars have Ifamous for centuries.The new city has changed little from that laid out in grand proportionin 1761 by Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of the Durrani dynasty^The fact that the Durranis from Kandahar were to create the Afghan statand rule it for 300 years gave the Kandaharis a special status amongst iPashtuns. As a concession to their home base, Kabul's kings absolvethe Kandaharis from providing manpower for the army. Ahmad Shah'smausoleum dominates the central bazaar and thousands of Afghans stcome here to pray and pay their respects to the founder of the nation.Next to his tomb is the shrine of the Cloak of the PropheMohammed - one of the holiest places of worship in Afghanistan.Cloak has been shown only on rare occasions such as when King Amanul|lah tried to rally the tribes in 1929 and when a cholera epidemic hitcity in 1935. 3 But in 1996 in order to legitimise his role as leader and onordained by God to lead the Afghan people, Mullah Omar took outcloak and showed it to a large crowd of Taliban who then namedAmir-ul Momineen or Leader of the Faithful.However, Kandahar's fame across the region rests on its fruit orchaKandahar is an oasis town set in the desert and the summer heat is devtating, but around the city are lush, green fields and shady orchards producing grapes, melons, mulberries, figs, peaches and pomegranates whiiwere famous throughout India and Iran. Kandahar's pomegranates deated Persian manuscripts written one thousand years ago and were serveat the table of the British Governor General of India in Delhi during Ilast century. The city's truck transporters, who were to give major finan-jcial support to the Taliban in their drive to conquer the country, begtheir trade in the last century when they carried Kandahar's fruit as fDelhi and Calcutta.The orchards were watered by a complex and well-maintained irriga-Jtion system until the war, when both the Soviets and the Mujaheddin sclheavily mined the fields that the rural population fled to Pakistan and theorchards were abandoned. Kandahar remains one of the most heavilfmined cities in the world. In an otherwise flat landscape, the orcharand water channels provided cover for the Mujaheddin who quickly toolcontrol of the countryside, isolating the Soviet garrison in the city.Soviets retaliated by cutting down thousands of trees and smashingirrigation system. When the refugees were to return to their devastatedorchards after 1990, they were to grow opium poppies for a livelihood^creating a major source of income for the Taliban.KANDAHAR 1994: THE ORIGINS OF THE TALIBAN ~ 21With the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 there followed a long struggleagainst the regime of President Najibullah until he was overthrown in1992 and the Mujaheddin captured Kabul. Much of Afghanistan's subsequentcivil war was to be determined by the fact that Kabul fell, not tothe well-armed and bickering Pashtun parties based in Peshawar, but tothe better organized and more united Tajik forces of Burhanuddin Rabbaniand his military commander Ahmad Shah Masud and to the Uzbekforces from the north under General Rashid Dostum. It was a devastatingpsychological blow because for the first time in 300 years the Pashtunshad lost control of the capital. An internal civil war began almost immediatelyas Hikmetyar attempted to rally the Pashtuns and laid siege toKabul, shelling it mercilessly.Afghanistan was in a state of virtual disintegration just before the Talibanemerged at the end of 1994. The country was divided into warlordfiefdoms and all the warlords had fought, switched sides and fought againin a bewildering array of alliances, betrayals and bloodshed. The predominantlyTajik government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani controlledKabul, its environs and the north-east of the country, while three provincesin the west centring on Herat were controlled by Ismael Khan. Inthe east on the Pakistan border three Pashtun provinces were under theindependent control of a council or Shura (Council) of Mujaheddin commandersbased in Jalalabad. A small region to the south and east of Kabulwas controlled by Gulbuddin Hikmetyar.In the north the Uzbek warlord General Rashid Dostum held sway oversix provinces and in January 1994 he had abandoned his alliance withthe Rabbani government and joined with Hikmetyar to attack Kabul.In central Afghanistan the Hazaras controlled the province of Bamiyan.Southern Afghanistan and Kandahar were divided up amongst dozens ofpetty ex-Mujaheddin warlords and bandits who plundered the populationat will. With the tribal structure and the economy in tatters, no consensuson a Pashtun leadership and Pakistan's unwillingness to provide militaryaid to the Durranis as they did to Hikmetyar, the Pashtuns in the southwere at war with each other.International aid agencies were fearful of even working in Kandahar asthe city itself was divided by warring groups. Their leaders sold off everythingto Pakistani traders to make money, stripping down telephone wiresand poles, cutting trees, selling off factories, machinery and even roadrollers to scrap merchants. The warlords seized homes and farms, threwout their occupants and handed them over to their supporters. The commandersabused the population at will, kidnapping young girls and boysfor their sexual pleasure, robbing merchants in the bazaars and fightingand brawling in the streets. Instead of refugees returning from Pakistan, afresh wave of refugees began to leave Kandahar for Quetta.
22 ~ ISLAM OIL AND THE NEW GREAT GAME IN CENTRAL ASIAFor the powerful mafia of truck transporters based in Quetta and Kandahar,it was an intolerable situation for business. In 1993 I travelled theshort 130 miles by road from Quetta to Kandahar and we were stoppedby at least 20 different groups, who had put chains across the road anddemanded a toll for free passage. The transport mafia who were trying Iopen up routes to smuggle goods between Quetta and Iran and the newlyindependent state of Turkmenistan, found it impossible to do business.For those Mujaheddin who had fought the Najibullah regime and '.then gone home or to continue their studies at madrassas in Quetta arKandahar, the situation was particularly galling. 'We all knew eaother - Mullahs Omar, Ghaus, Mohammed Rabbani (no relation to ]ident Rabbani) and myself- because we were all originally from Urozgprovince and had fought together,' said Mulla Hassan. 'I moved back •forth from Quetta and attended madrassas there, but whenever wetogether we would discuss the terrible plight of our people living undethese bandits. We were people of the same opinions and we got on wit!each other very well, so it was easy to come to a decision to do something,!he added.Mullah Mohammed Ghaus, the one-eyed Foreign Minister of the Tali^ban said much the same. 'We would sit for a long time to discuss how ichange the terrible situation. Before we started we had only vague idewhat to do and we thought we would fail, but we believed we weworking with Allah as His pupils. We have got so far because Allah hahelped us,' said Ghaus. 4Other groups of Mujaheddin in the south were also discussing the iproblems. 'Many people were searching for a solution. I was from Kaliin Zabul province (85 miles north of Kandahar) and had joinedmadrassa, but the situation was so bad that we were distracted fromstudies and with a group of friends we spent all our time discussing wrwe should do and what needed to be done,' said Mullah MotAbbas, who was to become the Minister of Public Health in Kabul,old Mujaheddin leadership had utterly failed to bring peace. So I wen|with a group of friends to Herat to attend the Shura called by IsnKhan, but it failed to come up with a solution and things were gettirworse. So we came to Kandahar to talk with Mullah Omar and joinehim,' Abbas added.After much discussion these divergent but deeply concerned groupchalked out an agenda which still remains the Taliban's declared aims •restore peace, disarm the population, enforce Sharia law and defendintegrity and Islamic character of Afghanistan. As most of them wepart-time or full-time students at madrassas, the name they chosethemselves was natural. A talib is an Islamic student, one who seeks knovledge compared to the mullah who is one who gives knowledge. By choKANDAHAR 1994: THE ORIGINS OF THE TALIBAN ~ 23ing such a name the Taliban (plural of Talib) distanced themselves fromthe party politics of the Mujaheddin and signalled that they were a movementfor cleansing society rather than a party trying to grab power.All those who gathered around Omar were the children of the jihadbut deeply disillusioned with the factionalism and criminal activities ofthe once idealised Mujaheddin leadership. They saw themselves as thecleansers and purifiers of a guerrilla war gone astray, a social system gonewrong and an Islamic way of life that had been compromised by corruptionand excess. Many of them had been bom in Pakistani refugee camps,educated in Pakistani madrassas and had learnt their fighting skills fromMujaheddin parties based in Pakistan. As such the younger Taliban barelyknew their own country or history, but from their madrassas they learntabout the ideal Islamic society created by the Prophet Mohammed 1,400years ago and this is what they wanted to emulate.Some Taliban say Omar was chosen as their leader not for his politicalor military ability, but for his piety and his unswerving belief in Islam.Others say he was chosen by God. 'We selected Mullah Omar to lead thismovement. He was the first amongst equals and we gave him the powerto lead us and he has given us the power and authority to deal withpeople's problems,' said Mullah Hassan. Omar himself gave a simpleexplanation to Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yousufzai. 'We took uparms to achieve the aims of the Afghan jihad and save our people fromfurther suffering at the hands of the so-called Mujaheddin. We had completefaith in God Almighty. We never forgot that. He can bless us withvictory or plunge us into defeat,' said Omar. 5No leader in the world today is surrounded by as much secrecy andmystery as Mullah Mohammed Omar. Aged 39, he has never been photographedor met with Western diplomats and journalists. His first meetingwith a UN diplomat was in October 1998, four years after the Talibanemerged, when he met with the UN Special Representative for AfghanistanLakhdar Brahimi, because the Taliban were faced with a possiblydevastating attack by Iran. Omar lives in Kandahar and has visited thecapital Kabul twice and only then very briefly. Putting together the barefacts of his life has become a full-time job for most Afghans and foreigndiplomats.Omar was bom sometime around 1959 in Nodeh village near Kandaharto a family of poor, landless peasants who were members of the Hotaktribe, die Ghilzai branch of Pashtuns. The Hotaki chief Mir Wais, hadcaptured Isfahan in Iran in 1721 and established the first Ghilzai Afghanempire in Iran only to be quickly replaced by Ahmad Shah Durrani.Omar's tribal and social status was non-existent and notables from Randallsay they had never heard of his family. During the 1980s jihad hisfamily moved to Tarinkot in Urozgan province - one of the most back-
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22 ~ ISLAM OIL AND THE <strong>NEW</strong> GREAT GAME IN CENTRAL ASIAFor the powerful mafia of truck transporters based in Quetta and Kandahar,it was an intolerable situation for business. In 1993 I travelled theshort 130 miles by road from Quetta to Kandahar and we were stoppedby at least 20 different groups, who had put chains across the road anddemanded a toll for free passage. The transport mafia who were trying Iopen up routes to smuggle goods between Quetta and Iran and the newlyindependent state of Turkmenistan, found it impossible to do business.For those Mujaheddin who had fought the Najibullah regime and '.then gone home or to continue their studies at madrassas in Quetta arKandahar, the situation was particularly galling. 'We all knew eaother - Mullahs Omar, Ghaus, Mohammed Rabbani (no relation to ]ident Rabbani) and myself- because we were all originally from Urozgprovince and had fought together,' said Mulla Hassan. 'I moved back •forth from Quetta and attended madrassas there, but whenever wetogether we would discuss the terrible plight of our people living undethese bandits. We were people of the same opinions and we got on wit!each other very well, so it was easy to come to a decision to do something,!he added.Mullah Mohammed Ghaus, the one-eyed Foreign Minister of the Tali^ban said much the same. 'We would sit for a long time to discuss how ichange the terrible situation. Before we started we had only vague idewhat to do and we thought we would fail, but we believed we weworking with Allah as His pupils. We have got so far because Allah hahelped us,' said Ghaus. 4Other groups of Mujaheddin in the south were also discussing the iproblems. 'Many people were searching for a solution. I was from Kaliin Zabul province (85 miles north of Kandahar) and had joinedmadrassa, but the situation was so bad that we were distracted fromstudies and with a group of friends we spent all our time discussing wrwe should do and what needed to be done,' said Mullah MotAbbas, who was to become the Minister of Public Health in Kabul,old Mujaheddin leadership had utterly failed to bring peace. So I wen|with a group of friends to Herat to attend the Shura called by IsnKhan, but it failed to come up with a solution and things were gettirworse. So we came to Kandahar to talk with Mullah Omar and joinehim,' Abbas added.After much discussion these divergent but deeply concerned groupchalked out an agenda which still remains the Taliban's declared aims •restore peace, disarm the population, enforce Sharia law and defendintegrity and Islamic character of Afghanistan. As most of them wepart-time or full-time students at madrassas, the name they chosethemselves was natural. A talib is an Islamic student, one who seeks knovledge compared to the mullah who is one who gives knowledge. By choKANDAHAR 1994: THE ORIGINS OF THE TALIBAN ~ 23ing such a name the Taliban (plural of Talib) distanced themselves fromthe party politics of the Mujaheddin and signalled that they were a movementfor cleansing society rather than a party trying to grab power.All those who gathered around Omar were the children of the jihadbut deeply disillusioned with the factionalism and criminal activities ofthe once idealised Mujaheddin leadership. They saw themselves as thecleansers and purifiers of a guerrilla war gone astray, a social system gonewrong and an Islamic way of life that had been compromised by corruptionand excess. Many of them had been bom in Pakistani refugee camps,educated in Pakistani madrassas and had learnt their fighting skills fromMujaheddin parties based in Pakistan. As such the younger Taliban barelyknew their own country or history, but from their madrassas they learntabout the ideal Islamic society created by the Prophet Mohammed 1,400years ago and this is what they wanted to emulate.Some Taliban say Omar was chosen as their leader not for his politicalor military ability, but for his piety and his unswerving belief in Islam.Others say he was chosen by God. 'We selected Mullah Omar to lead thismovement. He was the first amongst equals and we gave him the powerto lead us and he has given us the power and authority to deal withpeople's problems,' said Mullah Hassan. Omar himself gave a simpleexplanation to Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yousufzai. 'We took uparms to achieve the aims of the Afghan jihad and save our people fromfurther suffering at the hands of the so-called Mujaheddin. We had completefaith in God Almighty. We never forgot that. He can bless us withvictory or plunge us into defeat,' said Omar. 5No leader in the world today is surrounded by as much secrecy andmystery as Mullah Mohammed Omar. Aged 39, he has never been photographedor met with Western diplomats and journalists. His first meetingwith a UN diplomat was in October 1998, four years after the Talibanemerged, when he met with the UN Special Representative for AfghanistanLakhdar Brahimi, because the Taliban were faced with a possiblydevastating attack by Iran. Omar lives in Kandahar and has visited thecapital Kabul twice and only then very briefly. Putting together the barefacts of his life has become a full-time job for most Afghans and foreigndiplomats.Omar was bom sometime around 1959 in Nodeh village near Kandaharto a family of poor, landless peasants who were members of the Hotaktribe, die Ghilzai branch of Pashtuns. The Hotaki chief Mir Wais, hadcaptured Isfahan in Iran in 1721 and established the first Ghilzai Afghanempire in Iran only to be quickly replaced by Ahmad Shah Durrani.Omar's tribal and social status was non-existent and notables from Randallsay they had never heard of his family. During the 1980s jihad hisfamily moved to Tarinkot in Urozgan province - one of the most back-