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The Taliban terrorist movement continues its offensive. The cities and provinces of Afghanistan are being taken over by the radicals. In the occupied territories, the Taliban imposes a harsh regime based on a radical interpretation of Islamic legal norms. For the slightest offenses, residents are subjected to corporal punishment and publicly tortured.
The Taliban are ready to regain power in Afghanistan after twenty years of underground fighting. Militant detachments are advancing across the country, occupying large cities, army bases and strategic facilities. The Taliban have already taken control of half of the border crossings on strategic routes linking Kabul with other countries.
In the occupied territories, the Taliban establish their own government bodies, including the police, courts and border guards. The radicals position themselves as the legitimate authorities of Afghanistan, and therefore seek to destroy all the former secular institutions of government as soon as possible. The Taliban are campaigning and distributing materials among the local population that dictate new rules of conduct for Afghans.
Don’t Use Underwear because it was’nt Invented in the Era of the Islamic Faith
Since the Internet is not developed in the country, the Taliban print leaflets and proclamations that literate local residents should read to their neighbors. Also, the new rules of life are brought to citizens by the local Islamic clergy. The rules may differ depending on which of the Taliban warlords controls a particular area. In some cases, the Taliban may execute a person for “insulting Islam”, guided by their own ideas about Islamic law.
Taliban laws dictate not only rules of conduct, but also dress and appearance. For example, men are required not to cut or shave off facial hair, with the exception of a mustache, which must be shortened using a special system. The most radical members of the Taliban oppose the wearing of underwear by men, citing the fact that it was not invented in the era of the Islamic faith.
Women Can’t go outside Home
The harsh rules of conduct apply to women as well. In Taliban-controlled territories, women are required to wear a full-face veil and deaf, closed dresses. In some cases, women are also required to wear gloves so that no part of the body is open to the eyes of strangers.
Several decisions of the “Taliban court” are known that have made it onto the Internet. This spring, in Herat province, a woman was sentenced to forty lashes in public for speaking on the phone. The woman was blamed for the fact that the man with whom she spoke was not her husband, which means that their conversation was debauchery. Video footage of the public whipping was posted online.
For men, contact with a woman can also end badly. Human rights defenders have documented the following precedents in the Taliban’s “criminal law”. If a taxi driver drives a woman in a car with an open face or unaccompanied by a male relative, he faces imprisonment, and the woman’s husband must be flogged.
If a woman is caught washing clothes in the river, the Islamic authorities must take her home, where her husband, father or other relative will be severely punished.
If a tailor takes measurements of a woman, he could face imprisonment. For all these “articles”, decisions on corporal punishment for men have been repeatedly made, and strangers can also participate in the flogging.
Despite the fact that the Taliban are trying to position themselves as a moderate political force, local residents seriously fear the coming of radicals to power. According to some reports, many Afghan women who served in the Afghan army and police were sentenced to death in absentia by the Taliban court without the right to appeal.
Several decisions of the “Taliban court” are known that have made it onto the Internet. This spring, in Herat province, a woman was sentenced to forty lashes in public for speaking on the phone. The woman was blamed for the fact that the man with whom she spoke was not her husband, which means that their conversation was debauchery. Video footage of the public whipping was posted online.
For men, contact with a woman can also end badly. Human rights defenders have documented the following precedents in the Taliban’s “criminal law”. If a taxi driver drives a woman in a car with an open face or unaccompanied by a male relative, he faces imprisonment, and the woman’s husband must be flogged.
If a woman is caught washing clothes in the river, the Islamic authorities must take her home, where her husband, father or other relative will be severely punished.
If a tailor takes measurements of a woman, he could face imprisonment. For all these “articles”, decisions on corporal punishment for men have been repeatedly made, and strangers can also participate in the flogging.
Despite the fact that the Taliban are trying to position themselves as a moderate political force, local residents seriously fear the coming of radicals to power. According to some reports, many Afghan women who served in the Afghan army and police were sentenced to death in absentia by the Taliban court without the right to appeal.