Three days ago, media reported that a local Taliban official in Daykundi province, after his motorcycle went missing, extracted 60,000 Afghanis in compensation from the local people. According to the reports, a man named Haji Khayat, the criminal director of Khedir district in Daykundi, went to visit a person named Haji Khodadad and his motorcycle disappeared. The Taliban valued the motorcycle at 70,000 Afghanis, and Haji Khayat collected 60,000 Afghanis of that amount. The Taliban forced the people of the Korga area in the Khedir district to pay compensation for the motorcycle. 500 families, in addition to the host Haji Khodadad, delivered the money to the local Taliban office in Khedir district on Thursday, August 15. Each family paid 100 Afghanis, and Haji Khodadad paid 10,000 Afghanis in compensation. If this were anywhere other than Afghanistan, someone encountering such news would surely think it was a joke; however, in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, people experience the reality of such news firsthand because they face such illogical and inhumane decisions from the ruling regime daily. In Afghanistan, when someone reads such news, they are not amused but rather filled with frustration and anger, lamenting the misery and misfortune of the people.
The case of the motorcycle belonging to the “criminal director” of Khedir district is a microcosm of the larger issue. The Taliban have frequently engaged in such collective punishments. Since the resurgence of this group, numerous instances of collective punishment by the Taliban have been reported. In the courts of this group, not only is there no sign of justice and fairness, but logic is also perpetually absent. Like all aspects of Taliban governance, their courts are rife with illogical and inhumane practices. Just as this group has shut down girls’ schools and universities with their Stone Age mentality, confined women to domestic imprisonment, and effectively sidelined half of the human workforce from the economic, political, and cultural spheres, their decisions and actions in their courts and ministries lack any semblance of logic. Even senior members of this group cannot justify their irrational behaviors. The closure of schools for girls, collective punishment of people in a region due to the disappearance of a motorcycle belonging to the local security chief, the closing of recreational areas to women, and a long list of the Taliban’s illogical actions truly define the essence of this group.
One should not be swayed by propaganda about the Taliban. Towards the end of the republic, there was a campaign suggesting that the Taliban had changed and were now committed to respecting human rights, not violating freedoms, and avoiding discrimination. Still, all those claims were false, and people have now fully realized their inaccuracy. Similarly, the propaganda disseminated by the group’s rumor mills and their supporters under various names, attempting to create a false but more appealing and humane image of the Taliban regime, does not reflect the true nature and reality of the Taliban. The nature and reality of the Taliban are revealed through their actions, which terror, violence, and illogical behavior characterize. The identity of the Taliban is manifested through killings, assaults, collective punishments, executions, discrimination, and stoning. The Taliban regime’s identity is marked by systemic discrimination, suppression of freedoms, and vigilante trials. Just yesterday, it was reported that the Taliban in Baghlan had gouged out a driver’s eye with a gun barrel. Two days ago, it was reported that the Taliban in the Shulgara district of Balkh province had sentenced a woman to stoning for alleged extramarital relations, even though the man accused of the same crime received only a punitive measure due to his connection with the group. If there were any logic in the Taliban’s decisions and actions, they would have first considered that the “criminal director” and his subordinates should be responsible for maintaining security before punishing an entire region for the loss of a motorcycle.
Even more absurd is that the local Taliban administration in Khedir district has told the people of Korga that if anything goes missing in the area, the people are responsible and must be accountable. The logic governing the Taliban administration is solely based on force. No other logic is apparent. It seems that when the Taliban officials make decisions about the people and their fate, they do not think for even a moment. If a regime’s district chief, commander, and criminal director considered their decisions, they would realize that the responsibility for preventing theft does not lie with the people.
Another facet of this issue is the perception of collective guilt and criminality. The Taliban, who have divided the people of Afghanistan into insiders and outsiders, view outsiders with hostility and as inherently criminal. They consider anyone not aligned with their group as a natural criminal. Otherwise, what logic justifies punishing an entire district or region if the ruling apparatus fails to locate a purported criminal? Is not a crime an individual act? Such irrational decisions are not found in Islam, which the Taliban claim to uphold, nor in the behavior of other world leaders, nor within the realm of reason. Under Taliban rule, however, such punishments have become a norm. A single alleged insider accuses outsiders, and the Taliban courts swiftly and without investigation declare all those outsiders guilty and impose collective punishment. These punishments include torture, even killings, and the confiscation of large sums of money.
You can read the Persian version of this analysis here:
