Posted on 09/16/2001 2:58:34 PM PDT by VA Advogado
Repression of women creates Taliban dilemma
AFGHAN NEWS SOURCE
Guardian News Service
Jonathan Steele reports from Kandahar, Afghanistan, on various attitudes to homosexuality among Taliban militiamen
What happens to sexually active young men who do not see a female face for months at a time? In Kandahar, the home of the ultrapunitive Taliban militias who have forced all Afghan women to disappear behind the veil, it seems feeble not to raise the issue.
The city had a reputation for homosexuality long before the Taliban seized power two years ago. In other parts of Afghanistan young Taliban militiamen can be seen holding hands and touching each other with obvious affection.
If women have been so brutally repressed by the Taliban, what about gay men?
"We have a dilemma on this," admitted Mr Mohammed Hassan, governor of Kandahar and the senior mullah nominated to lead the Taliban in talks with representatives of the former government.
His comment was an unexpectedly liberal start to the conversation. Was he wavering between tolerance and censure?
"The difficulty is this," the governor said. "One group of scholars believes you should take these people to the top of the highest building in the city and hurl them to their deaths.
"[Other scholars] recommend you dig a pit near a wall somewhere, put these people in it, then topple the wall so that they are buried alive."
The mullah must have noticed the effect his answer had. Apparently in mitigation, he said a third group of scholars argued that homosexuals should merely be put on public display with blackened faces. This was the Taliban's favourite solution.
"We have punished people in this way in Kandahar," he said. "Homosexuality is a very big crime."
The governor seemed relaxed, in his black turban and with a long, grey shirt hanging loosely over pyjama-style trousers. He lolled in an armchair, placing one bare foot on a side table. His other leg had been pulped by shrapnel in his days fighting against the Soviet occupation. In its place a metal rod with a heavy plastic foot rested on the carpet.
We asked why television and cinemas were banned. "Worshipping statues was forbidden by the Prophet Mohammed, and watching television is the same as seeing statues," the governor said. "Drawing pictures or looking at them is sinful.
"People have a right to entertainment, but instead of going to the cinema, they can go to the gardens and see the flowers. Then they will see the essence of Islam."
The governor admitted to annoyance that no other countries had recognised the Taliban, including former supporters.
"Pakistan claims our policies violate human rights. Our opponents say we are against Wahabism [strict following of the Koran], so Saudi Arabia does not support us. America is against us because we don't allow their films."
The governor said the Taliban would carry on regardless. They had no wish to take loans from foreign governments or the World Bank if it meant paying interest.
A visit to Kandahar destroys one pervasive myth. In Kabul, where the movement took control in September, people sometimes argue that the Taliban are bound to relax once they have been in power for some time.
The mullahs make the case themselves. "Give us a chance to establish peace and security throughout Afghanistan, and then we will reconsider the question of the veil," is a common official refrain.
Kandahar gives it the lie. There has been no fighting around the city for two years, yet no rules have been relaxed. Girls' schools are closed. Women are still forbidden to work, except for women doctors, but even they are barred from treating men or talking with male colleagues.
A local Kandahari, an official at one of the United Nations aid agencies, said: "The last Afghan woman we had working here has just moved to Pakistan. The Taliban religious director came here to check on our staff, and she was warned to stop."
The official stays only because his dollar salary helps him support two brothers studying in Pakistan.
"I would leave here if I could. I don't see any future for myself if these conditions prevail. The Taliban will not change. I've debated with them many times. Our future is becoming darker and darker." (Guardian Service)
So they're going to piss of both the feminists and the homosexuals? Bush was right. . they really have woken a sleeping giant.
please don't report the movement of female doctors to Pakistan, or of walls falling on homosexuals. llss, ya know. This contains both movement and strategy....bad for the war effort. ;-)
Iraq contains both Shi'ite and Sunni Moslems, with Shi'ite Moslems making up slightly more than 60% of the population. Saddam Hussein and his Ba'th Party is made up predominately of Sunni Moslems, and they use a very heavy hand to keep the Shi'ites suppressed. There is an ineffective Shi'ite resistance movement against Saddam based in southeastern Iraq.
Assuming that we don't connect Iraq to the WTC attack and go to war against them, I expect both Iran and Iraq will sit back and look for opportunities to advance their respective causes -- Iran hoping to put their people in control of Afghanistan, and Iraq offering support to the Palestinians if they try to take advantage of unrest in the region.
You must admit the Talaban is a nasty bunch of fellows. As I said on another thread, they'll cut your head off and play soccer with it.
I just had this image of one of those Islamic ladies in black as a school teacher. A kid gets out of line. Out from under the black robe comes a Kalashnikov and on the kid's head a seeping red hole.
Now that's discipline.
This has been an additional component of the social unrest in Turkey
since many Kurds are Alawi, but also Turks as well.
There have been severe riots against the Alawis in Istanbul and other cities on several occasions.
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