The Global Sociology Blog

So the Taliban are alive and well and still oppressing women and exercising their brand of religious fanaticism over entire regions whenever and wherever they can. How do we know that? First, via the BBC , we learn that the Taliban have set up Islamic courts in the North-Western area of Pakistan they control,

"The top spokesman for the Pakistani Taleban Movement (PTM), Maulvi Omar, has told the BBC Urdu service that permanent Taleban courts were already functioning in Bajaur district, Mohmand’s northern neighbour.

"About 20 local religious scholars issue dozens of judgements each day in Bajaur, where we have the most organised judicial system in place," he said. (…)

In addition the PTM also runs a vast network of mobile courts in the rest of the Fata areas, he said.

The cases range from land transactions and loan disputes to family matters.

All this is embarrassing for the Pakistani government, especially because the Taleban have in the past carried out cruel punishments against people accused of moral turpitude, crime or spying.

Earlier this month, two Afghan nationals accused of spying for the US were publicly killed on the orders of a Taleban court in Bajaur.

Last month, a court in Orakzai ordered the public killing of half a dozen alleged bandits.

And in March, the Taleban killed a couple after they were allegedly found guilty of adultery by a court in Mohmand."

But these actions are not limited to Pakistan. The Taliban are still active in Afghanistan as well. This is why it is not surprising to find a video of Taliban executing women for allegedly being involved in prostitution. Via Jonathan Turley ,

"Afghan journalist Rahmatullah Naikzad has released a videotaped of the kidnapping and execution of two women, shown below, for their alleged involvement in a prostitution ring. The video is graphic and the viewer can hear that at least one woman screaming. It is another example of the barbarism still carried out by the Taliban under Sharia law. It is also more evidence of the return of the Taliban in a surge of its own in Afghanistan."

The video is graphic:

Stories like these of course question the efficiency of the NATO campaign in Afghanistan and the status of Western relationship with Pakistan. There is no question that the Afghanistan / Pakistan border region is a Taliban stronghold, which means major oppression for the communities there, especially women. And these zealots show no signs of softening their misogyny.

And these paragons of virtue are also not stranger to bandit tactics such as kidnapping for blackmail. Via the New York Times , the Taliban are threatening to start executing the dozens of Pakistani officials they hold hostage if the Pakistani government does not release their captured comrades.

"So far, the government has held firm, dispatching hundreds of soldiers to the area, Hangu, in North West Frontier Province, to engage in the first real fighting with the militants since the two sides agreed to a new series of peace deals earlier this year.

The fighting comes as the government faces mounting pressure from the United States to take stronger action against Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, which the militants use as a launching pad for attacks against NATO and American troops in southern Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s newspapers and television programs have been abuzz the last few days about suggestions in Washington that the United States might take direct action itself in the tribal areas to stop the flow of Taliban fighters into Afghanistan. Such a move would be strongly opposed by most Pakistanis as a violation of sovereignty.

But the militants have also increasingly extended their presence into more settled areas of Pakistan, like Hangu, where provincial police arrested about half a dozen armed Taliban riding in a pickup truck last Saturday."

What is going on in this area is an attempt by the Taliban to start a regional war between secular forces and religious fundamentalist groups, especially in the Pakistan / Afghanistan region in the context of American politics, that is according to Pakistan expert Ahmed Rashid, interviewed in Der Spiegel :

"We are witnessing a major offensive in both countries by the Afghan and the Pakistan Taliban. Previously one of these two groups of Taliban was fighting while the other would rest. This summer they are both on the offensive. This is a strategic decision by the Taliban who see a lame duck American president and also know that it will take until next spring before a new US administration can become effective. They also see a weak and divided Pakistani government and a weak and ineffectual Afghan government."

We are indeed embedded in global times when the state of the American Presidential election as well as the steps in administrative transition are taken into account by religious fundamentalists to determine their strategy. What is the immediate strategic goal?

"The Afghan Taliban want to create a strategic debacle, either by taking a town or city and announcing an alternative government or by trying to force one or two of the less committed NATO states to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Pakistani Taliban are determined to conquer or grab as much territory as possible in the next few months in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) in order to extend their influence in the Pakistani population, but also to offer more protection for al-Qaida and the Afghan Taliban leaders in this region."

How did the Taliban become so powerful in this part of Pakistan (beyond its geographical location)? Like many other aspects in this region, ethnicity is the key to understanding the dynamics:

"The Pakistani tribesmen, the Pashtuns, who helped al-Qaida to escape from Afghanistan in 2001, were benefiting enormously from this new relationship with the Taliban and al-Qaida — they were the hosts and the protectors of al-Qaida and received large sums of money from them. They also felt encouraged to form their own militias. The real fault lies in the Americans’ lack of interest in the Taliban after 2001. They insisted again and again that the only enemy was al-Qaida. This allowed Pakistan to accept the retreating Taliban and give them refuge."

The situation seems critical now because the Pakistani government is now in the hands of the secular political wing that defeated both the fundamentalists and Musharraf’s party. But the Musharraf regime left a lot of cleaning up for the new government, which the Taliban interpreted as a sign of weakness to press on with their strategy of controlling their own region of the country. Pakistan has also been affected by the high prices of food. And add to this the fact that the military still wants to maintain its control over foreign policy. These governance issues are opportunities for the Taliban. It is a general rule that these groups thrive on weak or failing governments.

For Rashid, there is no question as to what crucial mistake was made early on that led to this:

"The original sin was made when the US abandoned Afghanistan in early 2002 in order to prepare for the war in Iraq. We did not see major reconstruction of the country until 2004 and the window of opportunity for winning over the Afghan people and truly undermining Taliban influence was lost. (…) I still think Afghanistan is doable. But it is not a single conflict anymore — it is becoming a regional war that is spreading to Pakistan, Central Asia and Iran. And what is needed now is a regional diplomatic approach of the West to resolve this problem. It has become a much bigger problem than it was in 2001."

No major country, especially not the United States, can afford incompetent governance at this juncture. We just had 8 years of that and a lot of people around the world will continue to pay the price for the combination of hubris and religious fervor (Bush’s that is).