Taliban Essays - Islamic State Of Afghanistan, War In Afghanistan

Taliban Afghanistan followed the same fate as dozens of formerly Soviet-occupied countries after the collapse of Moscow's Marxist government in 1991. Islamic factions, which had united to expel the Russian occupiers in 1992, began to fight among themselves when it became apparent that post-communist coalition governments could not overcome the deep-rooted ethnic and religious differences of the members. It was in this atmosphere of economic strife and civil war that a fundamentalist band of religious students emerged victorious. By 1996, this group, the Taliban, ruled 90% of the country with a controversial holy iron hand. The other 10% of the country is tenaciously held by minority opposition groups led by president Rabbani and military commander Ahmed Shah Massoud and aided by foreign Taliban adversaries. This Northern Alliance shares critics' objections to the Taliban's extreme fundamentalist methods and especially scorns Pashtun ethnic chauvinism. Today only Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate ruling party. The United Nations still considers Massoud head of State, the US advocates a broad based government and others favor Rabbani, Zahir Shah, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar or other opponents as rulers of Afghanistan. The Taliban claim to follow a pure, fundamentalist Islamic ideology, yet the oppression they perpetrate against women has no basis in Islam. Within Islam, women are allowed to earn and control their own money, and to participate in public life. The 55-member Organization of Islamic Conference has refused to recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's official government. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, regarded by many as an ultraconservative, fundamentalist organization, has denounced the Taliban's decrees. Female employment and education is restricted or banned. Women must stay at home. If necessary, women who do leave the house must be accompanied by a male relative and cover themselves with a burqa (an ankle-length veil with a mesh-like opening in front of the eyes). Non-religious music, cassette tapes, TV and movies are all banned. Multi-colored signs are prohibited. White socks are forbidden (either because they are considered a sexual lure or because they resemble Afghanistan's flag). Children cannot fly kites, play chess or play with the pigeons since it distracts them from their religious studies. Men must wear beards or face prison until their shaven whiskers grow back. Paper bags are banned since the paper might have been recycled from old Korans and lower level windows must be blackened to prevent males from inadvertently catching women in compromising states. In order to guarantee that men and women observe the new rules, the Taliban have employed a moral police force (Agents for the Preservation of Virtue and Elimination of Vice) to search for violators. The purported brutal treatment of offenders by the moral police has led Amnesty International to classify the conduct a "reign of terror." Prior to the Civil War and Taliban control, especially in Kabul, the capital, women in Afghanistan were educated and employed: 50% of the students and 60% of the teachers at Kabul University were women, and 70% of school teachers, 50% of civilian government workers, and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women. Some examples of gender apartheid follow: A woman who dared to defy Taliban orders by running a home school for girls was shot and killed in front of her husband, daughter, and students. A woman caught trying to flee Afghanistan with a man not related to her was stoned to death for adultery. An elderly woman was brutally beaten with a metal cable until her leg was broken because her ankle was accidentally showing from underneath her burqa. Women have died of treatable ailments because male doctors were not allowed to treat them. Many women, now forcibly housebound, have attempted suicide by swallowing household cleaner, rather than continuing to live under these conditions. 97% of Afghan women surveyed by Physicians for Human Rights exhibit signs of major depression. The Taliban creates fallacies t maintain control. The following is an excerpt from ____ newspaper in 199_. The Taliban emerged in early 1994 from the Sunni religious schools (called madrassat) near Quetta, Pakistan, at a time when factional fighting and resulting lawlessness were at their height. Originally a small band of warriors from the majority Pashtoon tribe, their numbers swelled as they met with increasing success. Their take-over of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, in April 1994, was welcomed by its citizens, who had long suffered under corrupt and brutal mujehadeen commanders. The Taliban (the name derives from the Arabic word for student) quickly established order in Kandahar, disarming all factions and the general population. The Taliban leader of the faithful, amir