Feeling Abandoned by Kabul, Many Rural Afghans Flock to Join the Taliban

[tulipsandroses]

This is almost year old - but very relevant.

Sitting in an unfinished building in Momand Dara district in the eastern province of Nangarhar, not far from the village in Achin district where he grew up, Omari, 25, explained that he didn’t see a future for his family the way Afghanistan is currently run. The gap between relatively well-off urban areas and rural areas like his—bereft of clinics, schools, or jobs—has only grown after nearly two decades of fitful efforts at governance from leaders in Kabul.That’s why last month he made a fateful decision—like so many others, especially from rural Afghanistan. “I joined the Taliban because the government is corrupt,” said Omari, a slender man with greasy, shoulder-length hair, a trimmed beard, and kohl-rimmed eyes.
As Taliban militants and the Afghan government meet for a first round of direct negotiations in Qatar, aiming to work out a final peace deal and perhaps a power-sharing arrangement that could see the Taliban return to power, the Islamist group is gaining momentum and recruits—especially in rural areas like Omari’s. Almost 20 years after U.S. and international troops first went into Afghanistan to root out the Taliban and vanquish al Qaeda, the Taliban are now stronger than ever, controlling dozens of Afghan districts, according to a report by the Council on Foreign Relations.

For many rural (and less well-educated) Afghans, Taliban indoctrination finds a receptive audience, greased by the fact that the Taliban use family, friends, and community connections to recruit new members. Decades-old promises of a better life under the national government have failed to materialize: Omari’s family is part of the 90 percent of Afghanistan that lives below the national poverty line of $2 per day, according to the Afghan Ministry of Economy. Three-quarters of Afghans live in rural areas, where even basic services are in shorte of $2 per day, according to the Afghan Ministry of Economy. Three-quarters of Afghans live in rural areas, where even basic services are in short supply; the Ministry of Education this month revealed that 7,000 schools across the country don’t actually have buildings—including in Omari’s native Achin district.

While many Afghans fear that a Taliban return to power will bring the excesses of the 1990s—a harsh, austere interpretation of Islam that imposed strict rules, summary justice, and the disappearance of women from public life—for many poor, desperate, rural Afghans who’ve seen little good come out of Kabul, the attitude is often: Why not give the Taliban a try?

[link:http://|][link:http://|][link:https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/24/taliban-kabul-rural-afghans-join-peace-deal/|

[dalton99a]

1. While untold billions of U.S. taxpayer money went to corrupt Afghan officials and their minions

[Historic NY]

2. You knew that would happen...its not a shock

If Afghans weren't will to fight to keep from returning to life 20 yrs ago, there isn't much the US or others can do. The government itself was corrupt and how many deals did they make with the Taliban behind the US back. Hearts and minds are in the countryside.

[dalton99a]

4. Exhibit A: Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai

He is still in Kabul. The airport is named after him

[MagickMuffin]

3. Join the Taliban and infiltrate their war rooms and take the weapons and fight back

against them.


That's what I would do, infiltrate with the sole purpose of fighting them from the inside.

[gulliver]

5. Interesting article...thanks for posting

It's interesting to see ISIS (Islamic State, Daesh) mentioned.

"A Kabul-based security analyst, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said that as many as 10 percent of Taliban hard-liners could defect to groups such as the Islamic State if the Afghan government and the Taliban effectively merged."

The Afghan Trumpies, the right-wing Taliban, have ultra-Trumpies in their midst. ISIS hasn't been doing too well lately, so I'm not sure what their sympathizers do if the Taliban mellow regionally (while being ultra right-wing totalitarian Islamists within their own borders). I don't know the Taliban, but it seems to me they might remember what happened the last time they let radical Islamist yahoos (Al Qaeda) fester in the country they controlled.