September 26 , 2008

The Taliban and Beyond

(The column below, published some time back, is being reproduced here  owing to the deep interest in the Taliban phenomenon that the huge bomb blast on Marriott hotel in Islamabad has generated.)

 

Not many in the US had reason enough, before the catastrophe of 9/11/01, to bother about the quaint and quixotic Taliban of Afghanistan.

  The terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon suddenly brought them into the media focus particularly as their “honored guest”, Osama Bin Ladin, was generally suspected, at least in the US, of having master-minded the heinous crime. The ensuing curiosity gave rise to a spate of write-ups about them. Some itinerant foreign journalists took advantage of the situation by coming out with hastily composed books on them after a few days’ cursory visit to Afghanistan or by recalling the impressions gathered during earlier visits.           

  A couple of well-researched  works on the Taliban had, however,  already appeared some time earlier. Gen. Kamal Matinuddin’s book “The Taliban Phenomenon” published in 1999 by Oxford University Press, Karachi, was the first authentic and well-documented book probing into the factors leading to the sudden rise to power of these alumnae of antiquated religious seminaries. Written by a soldier, scholar, and diplomat, the book was well received by academics, research sets-ups and think-tanks.  I had also reviewed that book in these columns not long after it was published

That book was followed by an equally weighty work by Pakistan’s prominent journalist, Ahmed Rashid, published by Yale University Press. Being a well-known journalist and broadcaster, he became a much sought-after analyst for the American media in the wake of 9/11.

  There was yet room for a racy, piquant book that answered the queries surfacing in the mind of a student of affairs who has neither the need nor the time to probe deep into the phenomenon. The curiosity was but natural considering the enormity of the 9/11 catastrophe, the mystery surrounding the suicide bombers, their large number and the extreme secrecy observed by all of them. It was a project of Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda. The Taliban got entangled into it owing to their tribal custom (pakhtoonwali) of protecting their “honored guest”.                      

Dr. Amjad Hussain’s book “The Taliban and Beyond”, released by an Ohio publishing house, has fitted the slot perfectly. And, he had all the requisite credentials to claim the slot.

A Pakistani-American surgeon settled in Ohio, he came to the US from Peshawar several decades back and kept visiting his beloved native city once or twice a year.  He speaks Pushtu and Dari, the two main languages of Afghanistan, and has had the advantage of frequent visits to that country for over half a century. As a Pushtun, he knows instinctively what makes his Afghan counterparts tick, what are their proclivities, and how they would react in a given situation. A cardiac surgeon and professor at the Ohio Medical College, he has the incisive and meticulous mind of a scientist. He is a man of versatile talents. He is a linguist with proficiency in half a dozen languages, an award-winning writer in Urdu, a connoisseur of music, a columnist and commentator, and an adventurer –the first person to travel the entire route of the Indus river by boat, raft or on foot, and an uncanny faculty to touch only on those topics that have an interest for a foreign reader. His inherent sense of humor holds the attention of the reader right to the end of the book under review. I finished the 130-page book in just one sitting. His subtle humor is free of sarcasm or derision and retains the reader’s interest in the antics and bizarre behavior of his subject.

  He starts his narrative in the book by admitting: “Afghanistan is an enigma that defies understanding. It is a land that even the native Afghans, their closest friends and neighbors have difficulty understanding. As one who was born and raised in the frontier town of Peshawar, just miles on the Pakistan side of the wild frontier, I too find it difficult to present a coherent account of the country.”

Despite his intimate knowledge of the Pushtun customs and traditions, he offers personal comments sparingly. He presents instead the shape of things as he finds them and lets the reader form his own opinion. His interpretation appears only where it is unavoidable. For instance, describing how an obscure religious teacher, Mullah Umar, emerged as the Ameer, supreme leader, of Taliban, he writes: “In a brilliant ploy to gain unanimous support, he appeared before the gathering (of 1200 mullahs in Kandahar in 1996) wearing a robe attributed to prophet Muhammad. The assembled mullahs took the oath of allegiance to him and elected him Amir.”

Touching on their antiquated and outlandish beliefs, he remarks quite correctly, “The Taliban are an anathema not only to non-Muslims but also to many Muslims.”  However, he found them polite, truthful and self-confident with streaks of self-righteousness. “I did not come across a single Talib who was discourteous, belligerent or rude.”

The Taliban, he maintains, did not cause all the problems that the country faces. But they have significantly added to them by their medieval laws and their archaic governing structure.

As a music lover, he laments: “The Taliban’s ban on music has taken away the very soul of the Pushtun culture.”

The chapter on Al-Qaeda and the Afghan-Arabs makes an interesting disclosure. Talking about the Al-Qaeda terrorist and financial networks, he mentions the elite group of Takfiris. “Their philosophy allows them to set aside even the most sacred tenets of their religion in the interest of accomplishing their mission. The practice follows the old tradition of Taqayya, holy fraud or deviousness, that allow them to hide their true faith from their enemies while living among them and even adopting the ways of their enemies to avoid suspicion.”

As for the future of Afghanistan, the author appears uncertain: “Perhaps there is hope for a new Afghanistan emerging from the rubble of a destroyed land. But in the end the Afghans themselves have to overcome their own tribal and ethnic inconsistencies to make it work. They failed miserably in governing themselves after the defeat of the Soviet Union. If they were not able to rule the country in the after glow of a spectacular victory over a super power, how would they make it happen now. Or to be more realistic, can they make it happen? Only time will tell.”

Dr. Amjad Hussain writes a column for Pakistan Link also, and I think he has done us all a favor by sparing time for a visit to Afghanistan and making his impressions available to us so that we view the issues in a clearer perspective.
  (You may get a copy for $14.95 from www.Bwdpublishing.com , or by calling the publishers at (419) 872-2563)  Arifhussaini@hotmail.com