Message from Afghanistan’s Taliban : Sincerity or Lip Service ?

October 17, 2007

The mullah’s call to prayer broke Kabul’s eerie silence. It was my first morning in Afghanistan and I squinted to see the time on my watch, it was 4:30. My body shivered under the sleeping bag shrugging off March’s chill. Like most Kabul neighborhoods, the electricity was cut off during the night and the generator ran out of fuel. The innkeepers scurried in the morning darkness lighting a fire in the woodstove. I tried to return to sleep but the reality of being in Afghanistan for my 10-day vacation kept me awake. “What am I doing here?” I asked myself.

Terror. Tourism. The latter isn’t typically associated with Afghanistan but I chose to spend my vacation in Kabul with a human rights organization, walking the streets, meeting with people and seeing how the war-torn country is surviving. I never imagined I’d be eye-to-eye with the enemy having a civil conversation but on my first full day in Kabul, that’s exactly what happened.

Half a dozen men sat along the perimeter of the Afghanistan Human Rights Organization’s meeting room. They wore beards, heads were wrapped in turbans and their calloused feet with jagged toenails were bare. Rozi, the tribe’s tall and sturdy leader caught my attention. His nearly black beard, dark eyes, weathered complexion and long, chiseled chin reminded me of the images I’d seen of Osama bin Laden. As the conversation began I wondered, could he and these men be members of the Taliban?

They were tribesmen who traveled from Ghazni in Afghanistan’s Khogiani district, about 150 kilometers southwest of Kabul. It probably took them all day to reach the human rights office and they had a long journey ahead of them, yet they heard Americans were coming and stayed to deliver a message.

Just after half a day in Kabul, I had a pretty good understanding of what life was like under the Taliban’s harsh reign between 1996 and 2001. By law, women were hidden under burqas and were forbidden to work. I walked the grassy field of the infamous stadium where Kabul residents sat in stands watching women brutally beaten and killed for not abiding the Taliban’s standards. Goosebumps chilled my body thinking of the horror those poor women suffered.

But I heard tales painting a different face of the Taliban. Wives of the Taliban helped other women. Since school girls were prohibited from attending school, many were illegally educated in homes. Teachers and girls were punished if they were caught, so the Taliban would tell their wives when a home would be checked. The wives notified the teachers which day her husband would visit and classes were suspended on inspection day. This spared teachers and children from harsh punishment. Those stories slightly humanized the Taliban.

Rozi put a face to the war. He spoke for the group and through an interpreter told how the United States Armed Forces frequently raided homes in his village searching for unfound weapons and stole villagers’ money. In 2003, 23 villagers were taken into U.S. custody, three of which were in the room with me. As of March 2006, four of the 23 were in Guantanamo, Cuba and three at Bagram Air Force Base.

He continued discussing how he was imprisoned for nine months but at the time of our meeting, had not received an explanation or apology from the United States for being held captive. He was not physically tortured but was not granted access to the Koran. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was able to keep communication between him and his family active.

Rozi has not received any compensation for what he sees as wrongful imprisonment. The “U.S. took money and did not give it back,” he said. He continued saying he “will continue to complain and raise awareness” of what happened to him.

After a long pause, he proceeded to discuss a more recent experience with the U.S. military. A month prior to our meeting a villager falsely accused Rozi of harboring guns in his home. At midnight, the U.S. military raided his house in search of weapons, but nothing was found. Rozi described how bitterly cold it was that evening. His family was forced to wait in the snow for four hours without proper clothing and ended up falling ill. Again, he hadn’t received an apology for the wrongful raid.

He then handed me a document from the U.S. Department of Defense. Unfolding it, I read the subject line, “Certificate for Release.” The memo stated the dates Rozi was detained by the military and that he no longer posed a threat to the U.S. Armed Forces. The last sentence read, “This certificate has no bearing on future misconduct.” Nowhere did it explain why he was detained.

Rozi asked this message be delivered to the U.S. military, “The key to good friendships with the Afghan people is a good relationship with the Afghan people. When the military comes to Afghanistan, they should understand and respect the people and religion,” he said. “When we receive it, we will reciprocate.” Meaning, the U.S. military is welcome into the country as long as it acts as a guest and not a hostile occupier.

By imprisoning Rozi and his tribal members, my country restricted the freedom of others in order to protect my liberties. I felt a bit of
remorse for the actions of my country against the seemingly innocent men. But after they set off for home, I was told they were members of the Taliban.

“Was I just fed a load of crap?” I thought to myself. I had already hated the Taliban for the suffering they had caused but how could I hate a person I shared tea and had a civil conversation with?

I’ve come to accept war is fought over conflicting ideas. Unfortunately, it’s the people who fight in them who end up making the sacrifices. If ideas could be discussed face to face maybe there
wouldn’t be war.

About the author : J. A. Huber traveled to Kabul in March 2006 with the human rights organization Global Exchange. She’s originally from Buffalo, NY and spent ten years living and working in Death Valley, Everglades and Yellowstone National Parks. She now resides in Tallahassee, Florida. Her musings about life and travel are blogged at www.QuirkyKitschGirl.com

The TSM Fall Travel Writing Contest has been organised in association with On The Beach Holidays