Though the Taliban government in Afganistan between 1996-2001 should be largely attributed to the civil war that followed the fall of the soviet union and major involvement of Pakistan's ISI and military in training, supporting and funding Taliban from its birth. When the long civil war has devasted the country and had turned the state to penury, the Taliban government did very little or nothing for the country's growth
It is indeed that these five years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan should be described as a dark age of Asia, these five years made Afganistan a safe haven for Al-Queda, witnessed the demolition of thousand five hundred-year-old Bamiyan Buddha statue,Islamic Sharia law being followed as a state law resulted in an increase in violence, misogyny against women
Taliban also funded the appointment religions policing as a state policy primarily to forcibly impress profoundly immoral sharia law against its own women, some of the punishment given by religious police has been highlighted below to highlight the autocratic atrocity committed by the Taliban regime under the pretext of observing sharia law with a motive to bring back the times of Mohamad
In October 1996, a woman had the tip of her thumb cut off for wearing nail varnish.
In December 1996, Radio Shari’a announced that 225 Kabul women had been seized and punished for violating the sharia code of dress. The sentence was handed down by a tribunal and the women were lashed on their legs and backs for their misdemeanor
When a Taliban raid discovered a woman running an informal school in her apartment, they beat the children and threw the woman down a flight of stairs (breaking her leg) and then imprisoned her. They threatened to stone her family publicly if she refused to sign a declaration of loyalty to the Taliban and their laws.
In 1999, a mother of seven children was executed in front of 30,000 spectators in Kabul's Ghazi Sports stadium for murdering her husband (see right). She was imprisoned for three years and extensively tortured prior to the execution, yet she refused to plead her innocence in a bid to protect her daughter (reportedly the actual culprit)
All the evil things happened in the Taliban regime when the UN has objected to considering them as the official government of Afganistan. Infact Pakistan, UAE, and Saudi Arabia where the only initial countries to recognize the Taliban as the official government of Afganistan
with such a history of the irrational regime, it is highly unlikely that the promise made by the Taliban will really be kept by them, in an environment wherein no trackers have been put in place either by the UN or the United States to ensure Taliban is keeping their promise. Hence any talks with the Taliban at any point of time to be considered as a mockery of peace, unless the Taliban de-associate themselves from imposing strict Sharia law and Islamic fundamentalist ideology in the state
The recent talks held at Moscow have noticed that the demands of the Taliban have not been changed much. The peace talks resulted in the Taliban demanding the outset the current president of Afganistan, complete withdrawal of Nato troops in Afganistan, establishment of Islamic Constitution in the worn-torn country. It is also to note that the current president of Afganistan Asharg Ghani has been sidelined from the peace talks
Apart from the geopolitical advantage, Afganistan carries with its connectivity to central Asia , rational government in Afganistan will also help India to leverage upon its friendship for having greater connect to central Asia and contribute towards the greater cause of global peace. The Indian government has made a significant investment in Afganistan over the past decade like Construction of Afganistan National parliament Investing in Afgan health care etc. Having a Taliban led government in Afganistan will make India in the weaker hand to that of its counterpart
terror state Pakistan
As our doctrine of the nation once said
"The day a woman can walk freely on the roads at night, that day we can say that India has achieved independence" let us with all positivity and optimism believe that our neighboring state will get truly independent one day and prosper.
Akshayaram Viswanathan
