The Taliban's defiant rage

AFGHANISTAN'S UNRULY TALIBAN seems determined to inflict another body-blow on a society which is already reeling under the impact of the fanatical outfit's diabolical destruction of the country's traditional spirit of tolerance. Afghanistan is facing the grim prospect of a prolonged alienation from the international community. Nothing at all can justify the irrational actions of the Taliban's eccentric theocratic `rulers'. Allegations of anti- Islam activities form the basis of the latest arrest of eight foreign aid-workers. Pending a trial or at least an indictment in the context of what is said to be an ongoing investigation, the Taliban authorities have deprived these foreigners of any legal or consular services from the countries to which they belong - the U.S., Germany and Australia. Now, the Taliban has for several years sustained its brutal control over much of the Afghan territory, including the capital city of Kabul. But the international community, with the exception of Pakistan and two other Islamic countries, has rightly not accepted the Taliban's territorial sway as a fullscope criterion for according the Kabul regime any kind of diplomatic legitimacy. The Taliban's theocratic agenda, rooted in a ridiculously anti-modern interpretation of Islam, is not shared by almost the entire Muslim world. Moreover, the Taliban's suspected role of serving as the `spiritual' host to Islamic terrorists of varying `political' persuasions is still the motive force behind the United Nations Security Council's existing sanctions on the Kabul regime.

Under the edicts of the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Omar, those accused of seeking to convert Afghan Muslims to any other faith (Christianity, in the present case) could face deportation or even the death penalty if proven `guilty'. Almost twice as many Afghans as foreign aid-workers have also been arrested on charges of collaborating with the outsiders in the alleged proselytisation drive. The international aid agency, whose workers have been detained, has said that it routinely advises its personnel against undertaking any religious conversions. Yet, the countries concerned, including the U.S. which gives the largest aid to Afghanistan to heal its wounds of war and drought, have been asking for no more than normative consular access to their citizens as a simple first step.

The larger issues at stake go far beyond the paradox of the unrecognised Kabul regime being acknowledged as the power-that-be in Afghanistan. On the chopping block are the human rights of not only the arrested foreign aid-workers but also those of the detained Afghans who are reported to have denied having given up Islam. A catalogue of Mullah Omar's diktats, outrageous and barbaric by any standard, will be very long. The Kabul regime's crimes against Afghan women and children as also its harsh punishment of men for perceived deviations from Muslim ethics should be seen in a wider context. Mullah Omar's defiance of international opinion was at a peak during the Taliban's destruction of the colossal Buddhist statues, symbols of the composite cultural heritage of mankind, earlier this year. No less obnoxious was the Taliban's subsequent fiat that the minuscule Hindu minority of Afghanistan should wear identification badges in the manner of Jews in Nazi Germany. Above all, though, the tussle between the international community and the Taliban centres on Mullah Omar's sanctuary for Osama bin Laden, the suspected global terrorist don. It remains to be seen whether Pakistan's halting efforts to crack down on internal terrorism will have any beneficial spill-over effect in Afghanistan. But the strong-arm methods of some Central Asian states, which face Islamic terrorist forces, seem to enhance the Taliban's relevance to such fellow-ideologues outside Afghanistan.

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