A M E R I C A N A T H E I S T S
~~ A A N E W S ~~
#453 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7/18/98
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A Service of AMERICAN ATHEISTS
"For Reason and the First Amendment"
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In This Issue...
* A Special Report on Drugs, Oil and the Taliban
* American Atheist Magazine -- Head for the Beach!
* Resources
* About This List...
TALIBAN ABUSES IGNORED FOR OIL MONEY, DRUG WAR
Is Supporting Islamic Fundamentalism Good For Politcs & Business?
Afghanistan's Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime, which has ruled most
of that country since 1996, has friends in high places. Despite a shoddy
record concerning human rights, the Muslim state -- which declares openly that
it is constructing a "pure" Islamic society -- enjoys a cozy relationship with
some international corporate interests, and even elements within the United
Nations and the U.S. government.
The Taliban came to international attention in the summer of 1994 as one
of the many factions fighting for control of Afghanistan following the pullout
by the Soviet Union, and the nation's disastrous civil war. The group was
founded by an Islamic cleric, Mullah Muhammad Omar, a one-eyed guerilla
leaders who during the 1980s led assaults on the occupying Red Army. During
this time, foreign interests ranging from the Soviet Union to the U.S., were
locked in a deadly and at times confusing battle for influence, an extension
of the "Great Game" referred to by novelists Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad
and others. Now as in decades past, Afghanistan sits as the geographic and
political cross roads of the region, adjacent civilizational fault lines and
hot spots like Iran, Pakistan and the former southern republicans of the
Soviet Union including Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Taliban is led by a group of five Mullahs, all of whom come from the
southern provinces of Afghanistan, the center of traditional ethnic Pashtun
society. Beneath this inner council is a second-level tier of activists who
run the Taliban field armies, "militias." Most are semiliterate seminary
students raised in the network of refugee camps that sprung up along the
Pakistan border during the civil war. For over a decade, these squalid camps
became a breeding ground for Islamic fervor, resentment and intrigue. Arms
flowed into the camps, as the area was awash with surplus military equipment,
much of it the result of "black ops" run by Moscow, London and Washington --
everything from the Russian AK47s to American M-16s and Stinger missiles.
Pakistan's well-funded Inter Service Intelligence Agency (ISA) was present as
well, and the Taliban became its stalking horse during the civil war.
At first, few observers considered the Taliban to be a serious, credible
military or political force. A series of brutal Islamic regimes in the
capital of Kabul, though, failed to control most of the 26 far-flung
provinces. Gradually, the Taliban gained the upper hand, especially since
many of the other factions contesting power were corrupt and plagued by
internal politics. The group quickly established a reputation as the "holy
warriors" of the countryside, combining fanatical military tactics with a
harsh religion-based code which it employed in administering areas under its
control. Taliban road blocks searched cars and trucks for everything from
western magazines and other reading materials to rock 'n roll cassette tapes.
In October, 1996, the Taliban surprised the world community and stormed
into Kabul, driving out the government of President Rabbani. Nearly 250,000
fled the once cosmpolitan city. Since then, the religious government has
consolidated its control over approximately 80% of the country. Efforts to
overthrow the Taliban regime by a coalition of former military officials and a
war lord have failed, despite outside aid.
It is the situation in the north, especially the Panjshir Valley, which
threatens to again turn Afghanistan into a cultural and military flash point.
Russian troops, driven out of Afghanistan by the Islamic "Mujahadeen"
coalition in the 1980s, may not be able to hold their own border; and that
area is now comprised mostly of Muslims. Gen. Alexander Lebed, who may run
for the Presidency of the Russian Federation, warned of the consequences of
Taliban expansion to the north. "If the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, reaches
the borders with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and sweeps away the Russian border
posts, the road to the north across the plains will be open," he told
Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper. Analysts doubt that the Russian 201st
Division in Tajikistan can even maintain the military line.
A Study in Terror
Since 1996, Afghanistan under the Taliban regime has become a living
nightmare for women, political dissidents, and anyone else who does not
"submit" to a ruthless interpretation of strict Koranic law and the roving
bands of militia thugs operating under the authority of the Ministry for the
Fostering of Virtue and Suppression of Vice.
* Women have been banned from the work place, even the hospitals where
female doctors and nurses accounted for the bulk of professional care givers.
In what has been described as a wave of "Gender Apartheid," women and girls
have also been prohibited from attending schools and university. Females are
required to wear a cumbersome head-to-toe garment known as the burqa; and they
may not venture forth in public unless in the company of a husband or blood
relative.
* Homes and apartments are open to search by the religious police, who
confiscate western cultural materials (books, magazines, videos, records/CDs).
Alcohol is seized, and Taliban has organized numerous "photo ops" for
journalists which include military vehicles crushing crates of liquor as proof
of the "purification" of Afghan society. Books are regularly burned, and
there is no opposition press. (Copies of the Koran are permitted, but Taliban
authorities have expressed concern that if discarded, they might be recycled
into other products including toilet paper -- a blasphemy.) Any residence
where a woman lives must have its windows painted over so no one may happen to
glance inside.
* Movie theaters, night clubs, bars and most of the educational facilities
have been shut down. Television sets are confiscated.
* Men are not faring any better. Attendance at dreary mosque services is
compulsory, and "neighborhood watch"-style religious cops note who is absent.
Men have also been required to wear short hair cuts, and full beards. Males
must also refrain from wearing any western-style clothing.
* Radios are permitted, but only for listening to the official Taliban
Radio Sha'ria ("religious law"). Recently, the Sha'ria has begun "prayer
lessons," for all men who must memorize the verses.
* Religious justice in Taliban-ruled areas, especially Kabul, is swift and
draconian. The roving militias and religious police often execute a "street
level" form of punishment, including whippings and public beatings. Acting
Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammed Stanakzai told reporters, when Taliban
first took control of the capital, that "We will try our best to execute all
the rules and regulations of Islam. We love our country and our people, and
we also love Islam."
* The fanatical and authoritarian zeal of Taliban authorities has gone to
the most ludicrous extremes. Caged birds such as canaries have been outlawed,
"because they sing," according to one critic of the regime quoted in The
London Times. "Taliban is rule crazy," adds the paper.
"Men have been told to attend mosque five times a day and their names are
taken by the mosque shura (council) ... Come 4:30 a.m., the streets are full
of bleary-eyed men following the muezzin's call."
* The ban on women in the work place has created a growing class of "war
widows" who do not have living male relatives on whom they can depend. It has
also caused problems for international relief agencies who have women working
in the field. Even the Afghan Red Crescent Society (the equivalent of the Red
Cross agency) is now under the control of a Taliban official.
* Card games, chess, and even wedding parties have been banned. "A married
couple riding on the same bicycle on the way to the market were beaten for
being physically too close in public... The Islamic rulers expect shop owners
to leave their premises unlocked at night to prove how secure the city is."
It would seem inconceivable, then, that any western government or sober
group would care to interact with such a regime, let alone do business or
extend funding. That is not the case, however. Indeed, the politics of oil
and drugs is emerging as a more critical priority among certain western
elites.
The Taliban and the Poppy
For several months, unconfirmed reports out of Washington have suggested
that the U.S. Government was seeking a policy of engagement with the Taliban
rulers. The U.S. had already been active in Afghanistan for over a decade,
starting with the civil war when the Central Intelligence Agency poured
assets, money and material into the region. Another reason for possibly
backing the Taliban is that Iran, Russia, India and some elements in
Tajikistan threw their fortunes in with the old regime of President Rabbani.
The anti-Shi'ite orientation of the Taliban is an incentive for positioning
and encouraging the religious government as a "check" on possible expansion
or activities by neighboring Iran. Indeed, Iran's intelligence service has
poured in its own military and financial assets on the side of General
Massood, deposed military commander under the old government who now operates
a ragtag army of rebels in the north.
And backing the Taliban may put corporations and governments in good
company. Some of the oil rich Gulf Arab states also support the new
Afghanistan government.
There is another factor, though, which may affect not only the conduct of
this new "Great Game" in the region, but the policy of the Islamic Taliban
regime as well. This is the geopolitics of drugs. Prior to the civil war in
Afghanistan, production of opium was between 200 and 300 tons per year
according to the United Nations International Drug Control Program; that
figure sky rocketed, though, as the Mujahadeen presence increased. Militias
often financed their arms purchases and other activities by taxing opium
production in regions under their control, and Pakistan's intelligence service
is believed to have also cashed in on the lucrative trade. There is
compelling evidence that the Inter Service Intelligence (ISS) used funds from
the heroin production industry to finance its destabilization operation in
India, especially in the Kashmir region. The fragmentation of the civil war
also reconsolidated a class of regional warlords who turned to poppy growing
and the opium trade as a lucrative business. Curiously, the Taliban religious
militias were initially perceived by many in the countryside as a stern by
welcome change from the corrupt policies of local warlords and graft-taking
government officials far from the administrative control in Kabul.
But in the Taliban controlled areas, opium poppy production has not only
continued, but actually grown. Provinces like Kandahar, Uruzgan and Nangarhar
experienced increases of 40% to as high as 76%. Some of this initially was
attributed to the fact that Taliban was pouring its resources into
consolidating its political and military control; but the strict imposition of
the religious law was not abandoned. It is also known that Taliban officials
have placed a 10% levy, known as the zakat, on all farm produce including
opium poppies. Village Mullah's collect the tax that is then sent on to
Kabul. And there are reports from individuals in various foreign aid groups
of Taliban militas actually protecting trucks loaded with opium, morphine and
hashish being transported to Pakistan and even Iran.
Despite an explicit Taliban prohibition on drugs, there are continual
reports of the opium trade continuing and thriving. And the ruling Taliban
government is run by Mullahs who are products of traditional Pashtun society.
Mullah Omar, for instance, the "Commander of the Faithful," was born in
Kandahar province which has been a traditional opium poppy growing area. Some
observers have suggested that in the dislocations of the civil war, poppy
production was a steady source of quick money which all sides could deal in.
Even General Massood has been linked to the opium trade. Indeed, opium can
provide for the Taliban government what it yielded prior to the consolidation
of power -- badly needed money and international currency.
Drugs are also a negotiating card which Taliban has already used as a lure
in gaining recognition and attention in the west. A month after taking Kabul,
Taliban Mullah Muhammad informed the United Nations Drug Control Program
office in Islamabad, Pakistan, that the new regime was interested in lucrative
"substitution" programs, whereby the Kabul government would receive
international funding to encourage farmers to plant crops instead of the
poppy. One UN official praised the Taliban, saying "All the parts of
Afghanistan that produce drugs are now governed by a single authority, with
whom we have made contact. They have a definite influence in these regions
and have told us they wish to cooperate in the introduction of substitution
programs."
These substitution programs have already piqued the interest of drug
control officials in Washington. Even within the State Department, there is
enthusiasm for funding expensive "substitution programs" and extending
official recognition to the Taliban regime, since it is perceived as a
"stabilizing" force. The problem is that Taliban wins either way; it can
remain engaged with opium traders, most of whom continue to operate with
seeming impunity, or announce a "substitution program" paid for by
international -- and that includes American taxpayers. Or, it can do both.
The only problem for Washington will be in explaining how and why American
money is presumably helping to stabilize a region which writer Jane Goodwin of
"On The Issues" has described as "the most oppressive country on earth for
women."
The Lure of Oil
Drugs politics is not the only factor on this fin de siecle version of The
Great Game. The collapse of the former Soviet Union has unleashed new
investments throughout the region by international corporations, including
energy giants who are entering into lucrative contracts with new regional
government. The California-based UNOCAL is one such firm, and is a partner in
a consortium now trying to construct a multi-billion dollar pipeline route to
transport oil and gas from Turkmenistan. "Pipeline politics" may also dictate
a route not through Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, but Iran instead. Either of
the countries stands to reap hundreds of millions of dollars from any
arrangement.
For Taliban, a pipeline is a particularly sweet and profitable deal. Most
of the administrative cost and efforts of running Kabul is actually being
undertaken by NGOs, "non-governmental organizations" which operate under a
myriad of international aid groups. At least 30 NGOs are busy administering
and maintaining the city's water works, food programs, medical projects and
even land mine clearance, according to Agence France-Presse. Despite that
effort, this past week Taliban officials ordered humanitarian aid workers to
move their administrative center into a special compound, or face expulsion.
Planning Minister Mullah Qari Din Mohammed gave the aid organizations until
Sunday, July 19, to relocate, and accused the head of one group of "promoting
Christianity and... insulting our Islamic values."
"We Muslims believe God the Almighty will feed everybody one way or
another," added Mohammed.
One major point of contention involves the use of female staff by the
international NGOs.
The Terror Continues
Despite the activity of dozens of aid groups, an influx of international
money and relief, and the promise of hundreds of millions of dollars from oil
companies and the "war on drugs," the Taliban remains unfazed to world opinion
and human rights. Indeed, the most sordid manifestation of Taliban
ruthlessness and fanaticism has been a psychopathic spectacle which takes
place every Friday in the dilapidated former sports stadium in Kabul, where
tens of thousands of Muslims -- men and boys, mostly -- fill the stands to
witness public whippings, beatings, and executions. Recently, Jan Goodwin
managed to cover one of these horrifying displays, where a crowd of 30,000
assembled to see a young woman named Sohaila receive 100 lashes. "Sohaila had
been arrested walking with a man who was not her relative, a sufficient crime
for her to be found guilty of adultery. Since she was single, it was
punishable by flogging; had she been married, she would have been publicly
stoned to death."
**
A coalition of groups including the Feminist Majority Foundation, have slated
demonstrations for next Tuesday, July 21 in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles
to protest the UNOCAL pipeline project. The action has the support of over
100 women's groups, including Amnesty International and NOW. For more
information, check out www.feminist.org.
*
NOW ON THE AMERICAN ATHEIST MAGAZINE WEB SITE...
It's hot out there! In the midst of record summer temperatures, find out
about the social and religious history of one of our favorite distractions,
the beach! Check out "Sun, Sand, Water... The Ecstasy of the Beach" on the
American Atheist Magazine web site! Visit us at
http://www.americanatheist.org -- and stay cool and informed!
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