Taliban Are Coming Back In Afghanistan

by Franz Shurmann

But the photograph on the right, published in the September 27 issue of the London Based Arabic language As-Sharq al-Ausat, and its Arabic text suggest that President Bush was far too hasty in his victory proclamation. The photograph is of a man in his thirties who is wearing a black turban, the required headpiece for all men during the six years of Taliban rule over Afghanistan. In the interview, which first was published by a private Pakistani news agency, Muhammad Tayyib Agha identifies himself as the official spokesman of the Taliban leader Mullah Omar. He says that not only is Mullah Omar alive but he never left Afghanistan after October 7 last year.

Tayyib Agha says that when the Americans started their military actions against Afghanistan, the Taliban sustained heavy losses. But now they are "more organized, flexible and in better condition than before." He also said that many Afghan-Arabs are still "with bin Laden" who too is alive and never left Afghanistan. But both Mullah Omar and bin Laden never stay in one place very long. They are always on the move.

Recently TIME magazine sent a reporter to a Pashtun village to which many Taliban returned when the war seemed over. The reporter wrote "Some are angry; many are poor. Are they still a danger?" He offered no answer. Also recently the UN released a report on Al-Qaeda that called it "fit and well" and still had access to financial resources. Reports from Central Asia reflect worry that Islamic fundamentalists are still coming in from Afghanistan.

That Afghanistan is in a mess is evident from the headlines of a typical news day of Sabawoon.com, a major Afghan news web-site: Afghan Rift Threatens Government Afghan President; Minister Locked in Power Struggle; Afghan Feud Raises Fear of New Civil War; Warlords Hamper Afghan Peace Hopes; High Hopes for Afghan Army Fade.

The Taliban have an image in the West of barbarous cruelty and oppression of women. Nevertheless they did what no other Afghan faction had been able to do. They disarmed the population and provided security.

Tayyib Agha in the interview said "we shall drive Americans out of our country as we did the Russians." The Russians invaded Afghanistan in December 1979 and called it quits in 1988. They left behind a leftist government that was swept away by the Mujahideen in 1992. Yet for four years the various victorious factions fought amongst themselves so viciously that it left some 50 to 100 thousand civilians dead.

Tayyib Agha says America did not attack Afghanistan in order to capture Osama bin Laden but for the same reasons as Russia. The then Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan a year after the rise of revolutionary Islam in Iran. The Soviets were afraid that a dynamic new revolutionary force was arising in and out of their territories that would sweep away Soviet Communism.

In early November 2000 I published a piece headlined "Islam on the march." It ended with the question "Could it be that Osama Bin Laden is becoming the Lenin of this new international movement?" Lenin was a visionary leader who electrified the world. After him two successors began to vie for power. One was Leon Trotsky who was a visionary like Lenin. The other was Joseph Stalin who had the pragmatic skills of Lenin. Stalin won out. He advanced "building socialism in one country" as the main direction of the Soviet Communist Party.

If the comparison between Osama and Lenin has merit then the former has more in common with Trotsky than with Stalin. But then Mullah Omar has more in common with Stalin than Trotsky. And indeed in earlier years the Taliban repeatedly had said their aims are only for Afghanistan and no other country. Tayyib Agha spoke several times about Mullah Omar's relations with the tribal leaders.

In much of the 20th century Communism provided direction to millions of people. But then its charisma waned while that of Islam is now waxing. Islam in its myriad variations now provides direction to more people in the world than any other belief system. Like them, hate them or dismiss them Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar will continue to radiate charisma for a long time whether alive or dead.

Practically this means that Al-Qa'eda will operate worldwide as it is doing now. In Afghanistan, meanwhile, the Taliban are going to keep on building political infrastructures throughout the country and that process will likely affect Pakistan and Kashmir.