I was with two of my friends in Herat province. We decided to travel to Iran and waited for a visa. We were trapped by commissioners and stayed in Herat for about a month and a half. We had a room for two nights in one of the hotels in the Chawk Gulha in Herat city. Chawk Gulha is a crowded city, and so is beautiful. It can be said that the beating heart of Herat is here. A large amusement park is conveniently located in the middle of the public road. Cars are whistling on both sides of the road. Various saplings have been planted in the park. Najo tree and willow seedlings are more prominent. The park has four entrances and a guard is placed on each door. For those who go to the park, an entrance ticket is given for 10 afghanis. Small restaurants are built in the park with a special view and provide tea, coffee, and hookah for tourists. The park cleaning department does its job well. Most people come to the park who are not from Herat province. In the era of the Republic, the density of tourists in this park was heavy, however, in the era of the Taliban, there has been no uproar in the past. The presence of women in the park is very low, and restaurant owners attribute the women’s absence to the Taliban’s approach to them. Herati people are less seen in the park. Most people come to the park from the southern provinces. Their faces, tongues, and ears prove it. They have a black scarf on their heads and a loose shirt on their bodies and a thick beard on their chin. The Taliban also come to the park in groups and breathe new life under the shade of the trees.
The hotel we had in that room overlooked the public road. From the balcony of the room, you could see everywhere. One day a large number of Taliban were on a public road. They were checking very hard on cars and pedestrians.
The Taliban were unfamiliar with the rules of vehicle surveillance and the physical exertion of pedestrians, and their negligence caused the road to becoming more congested and pedestrians to be confused. Each Taliban fighter stopped a vehicle in the middle of the road and inspected it. They were helpless to keep their scarf on their heads and their weapons on their shoulders or to search vehicles and people. This was the most trivial thing a former government soldier could do well, but an army of the Taliban was unable to do so.
In the room we were in, there were two beds in the two corners one of the beds was double and the other was single. The part of the room that was left empty was carpeted with soft carpets. I was sleeping on a single bed and my other friend was sleeping on a double bed. One of my overweight friends could not sleep on the bed, so he had to lie on the carpet.
We spend the first night in this room. The room light goes out in the middle of the night and my friends fall into a deep sleep. I lie on my back on the bed and stare at the ceiling of a room that is dark, and everything I see after the fall of the Republic is imagined in my mind and in front of my eyes. The cell phone clock I see shows 12 o’clock. I get confused and fall asleep. It doesn’t take long for several hard knocks to knock on the door of the room, and sleep falls from my eyes. It was as if a huge explosion had taken place in the hotel. Even though I wake up, I do not get up. My friend who is sleeping on the ground gets up and walks towards the gate. He slowly turns the door handle and someone enters the room by kicking the door. All three of us are sleepy and our senses are disturbed. One of the comrades hurries to press the power switch and the room light comes on. Someone who enters the room with anger and rage does not understand anything in Persian. I find out that he is a member of the Taliban and wants to search the room face to face. I am lying on the bed behind the ceiling of the room. The light shining from the ceiling light on the floor of the room strikes my eyes. The Taliban soldier searches the room. He is in a hurry and is completely refreshed. The fire of rage burns in his being. He locks his mouth, it says nothing and it does not hear. I open my eyes slowly and notice that another soldier is standing at the entrance of the room and his eyes are watching everything. Both have guns on their shoulders. Their heads are covered with a veil and only their eyes are visible under the light of a lamp. The shape of their body and clothes at night is terrifying to the viewer. After a few minutes of searching, they find nothing and leave the room quickly. They don’t get permission while coming and going. They entered the room as if there was an accused here.
After the Taliban left, one of my comrades gently turned the door handle and locked the room tightly from the inside. All three of us praise the way the Taliban entered the room and tried and examined them, and we mourn the loss of the Republic. Tomorrow, when the sun rises, I wake up and go to the hotel owner after eating. I tell the story to the hotel owner and complain about the order of the hotel.
“The Taliban came the night before and checked the hotel rooms,” said the owner of the hotel. Two young men were sleeping in one of the rooms, one was 25 years old and the other was 15 years old. They wanted to go to Iran, however, they had crossed the border. The Taliban suspected the two young men and took them both. Suspected that a 25-year-old is not allowed to sleep alone with a 15-year-old under one roof. “Now, the Taliban come and check out the rooms every other night.”
The Taliban’s approach was cruel, unprofessional, and violated the privacy of individuals. There were rooms where women were present with their husbands and children. Unfortunately, with this kind of effort and scrutiny, their privacy is definitely violated. Entering with violence and rage in a place where someone/people are asleep in the middle of the night / can be the work of a group that lives in the mountains and knows nothing of the etiquette and culture of the city.
The privacy of individuals is inviolable and invasive, and national and international laws regarding its sanctity are clear. Until yesterday, the Taliban fought against these laws and overthrew the previous government under this pretext. Now that they are in power, not only do they not implement the content of these laws, but they also try to keep them from being implemented. In addition to situational texts, religious texts also emphasize the protection of individuals’ privacy. Unfortunately, those who entered the hotel from the address of the Taliban to check the rooms of the passengers in the middle of the night did not pay attention to these texts.