Afghan Star Evaluation Form

A Love Story under the Taliban Regime

This is based on a true situation that happened in a village of Afghanistan and the author only changes the names of the people and place to hide the real people’s identities.

A Shiite family escapes from one of the provinces which were recently conquered by the Taliban in 1998 into another one due to the fear of the Taliban’s announcement in the mosques which stated that “all the Shiites are infidels and they should be headed and their women and properties should be robbed, because their properties are halaal (which means “permitted, lawful, licit or legit according to Sharia law) for the Taliban Muslims”. Even though most of the residents of the area and local people did not accept this order but they were afraid and no one would dare to say that it is a wrong and stupid order.

When the family arrives in the new province, even though there was a village in which most of the residents were Shiites but the Taliban already reached there too and the family did not know that because there were no electricity available and also TV and radios were not allowed. This is a small green village in which almost everyone knows each other. The family had some agricultural lands here in this village and they came to get something out of it to survive but the family witnessed that there came many other families too who had no land there but they came to seek refuge in that village because it was famous for being a Shiite village and all other Shiites would feel safer when they are together. This was the reason which had divided people into two different categories, the land owners and the farmers. But the land owners would give their lands to the farmers based on traditional agreement of fifty-fifty.

Almost 99 % of the population of the village was busy in agriculture. There were different kinds of arable agricultural lands based on their watering resources. There were rain-fed, spring-fed, and canal-fed cultivation lands. There were non-arable lands too. The consecutive 7 years of drought had intensified the shortage of water in the area and increased different kinds of agricultural pests.

Everybody was scared and no one would dare to go out to work because they were afraid to face the Taliban. The Taliban announced new rules for the village. The rules were as below:

1. You should wear a turban (Lungee) or a cap to cover your head.
2. You should not shave your bear and mustachios and let them grow.
3. You should never ever listen to music, and therefore you should not have a radio or TV set at home.
4. You should not wear jeans or pants but you have to wear traditional clothes called “Perahan and Tunbaan”.
5. You should not have a good looking hair style; you should better shave your head.
6. You should not smoke or drink alcoholic drinks.
7. You should pray 5 times in a day.
8. Each family should send a man of the family as a soldier for the Taliban, if you don’t have anyone; you better pay the price for another soldier to go. The price was the price of life of person because everyone was sure of death while going and working for the Taliban. The price was going up and down according to severity of the security situation. The price was fluctuating between one million and one and a half million Afghan currency per month.
9. Women should not go out without a male escort and they should not work or go to school.
10. You don’t have to do remember the day in which the grand child of Mohammad was murdered and you don’t have to do a “Mourning Ceremony” for that purpose.
11. You have to pray the way the Taliban do and you don’t have to pray while your hands are open, you have to close your hands and believe in what the Taliban believes in.

Some of these rules were written and some others were unwritten but only practiced regulations and rules of the Taliban.  

The price of a soldier was too much for a farmer or a land owner family who were severely affected by draught. They were selling their properties such as a pair of bulls for plough, milking cows, cattle and other house stuff to make money for each month to pay for the Taliban otherwise they would face severe punishments such as imprisonment or death.

The family who came from the other province has educated children because access to quality education in the other province was much better before the Taliban arrived. The young son of the family was a sportsman and every morning he would wake up and start to do some sorts of Kung-fu sports on their lands which were quite interesting for other young boys in the village. Soon other boys from the neighborhood joined him and asked if they could learn that sport and exercises from him. He appreciated and accepted. There were around 20 young boys who were exercising with his every morning. The boy notices that almost all the young boys are uneducated, so he started to tell them nice quotes of the great men of the world every day after the exercise. He was afraid to tell them the quotes of the western philosophers because it could create problem for him of the Taliban heard about it. He was saying nice quotes like the one of Prophet Mohammad as has said “Treat others the way that you want to be treated”. Soon he was very famous in that village and the number of his free students was growing every day. The village did not have a good source of drinking water and the boy was feeling it very hard because he was new in the village and he was not able to drink water like the other locals from the river water which came passing different valleys. He was also giving some advice on drinking water and warned the young boys of the possible diseases which can come from the polluted drinking water of the river. He was telling the students not to drink from the river water and they have to go and walk to the spring and supply their families with the drinking water from the only spring in the village.

One day, one of his students told him about his secrets after the exercise. He said that he has fallen in love with the daughter of their farmer. He said that she is very beautiful. He said that his farmer is also one of the newly arrived families there in that village.

The teacher gave his some good advice and told him: Listen, the situation here is very critical and falling in love in this situation can be very dangerous. You know that Taliban are looking for an excuse to attack on us. Please don’t try to give them that excuse. If you really like her, you can send your parents to her house and ask the hand of their daughter and get married to her. If you are not going to get married, don’t go roaming around their house because of the brother of the girl finds out about this issue, he will create problems for you and you both will start fighting each other and you both will get in a big trouble. If you something wrong to her sister, you will destroy the reputation of the family and all the people of the village will start saying bad things about them and they will lose their respect and reputation in the eyes of the public and other villagers will start gossiping about that girl and all of them will call her a prostitute. When the brother hears about this issue, he will seek revenge and will create problems for you. Don’t do anything stupid.

The boy said “thanks for the nice advice” and they said good boy to each other.

After a few weeks, one of the Taliban soldier knocked the door. The boy opened and he was afraid to see an armed man with a Kalashnikov behind his door.

Taliban soldier: Are you the boy who is training sports to boys in the village?

Boy: Yes, I am.

Taliban soldier: Commander has asked for you. Follow me.

Boy: Is everything all right? Am I in trouble?

Taliban soldier: I don’t know, I was just asked to take you the district building to meet our commander.

Boy: By the way, you don’t speak Pashto like other Taliban! Where are you from? You look quite educated and civilized boy.

Taliban soldier: I am from Kabul. I studied 12 years of school in Kabul?

Boy: How come you are with the Taliban? I thought, they are all Pashtuns and they are mostly from Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan and those areas which are bordered with Pakistan. Now it is a surprise that you are with them.

Taliban soldier: Yes, that is true. There are many soldiers from other countries such as Arabs, Chechens, Pakistani as well as other unknown men with us. But do I look like an extremist?

Boy: No, you don’t, that is why I am not afraid of you so much and that is why I can ask you all this.

Taliban soldier: Can I tell you something? A secret? And don’t tell any of the Taliban about this ok? Otherwise they will kill me.

Boy: Ok trust me. I won’t tell anyone. What is it?

Taliban soldier: I was walking on the streets of Kabul to go to the market and buy some food for my family. The Taliban stopped the car and arrested me and all other men walking on the street and put us inside a track. They took us to their base and gave us guns and sent us to different districts and provinces as soldiers. We have no choice. I haven’t seen my family for 2 years now. The situation is not good around here. I think I will die here every day. Can you hide me in your house for some days? And then help me escape from here?

Boy: Are you joking? Maybe your commander will kill me when I go there. Will they leave me go back home?

Taliban soldier: Yes, they won’t kill you. They warn you about something.  

Boy: Ok, even if they release me. I am so sorry to tell you that I can’t help you. You know I can’t risk my life to help you. First if they get to know about it, they will kill all my family. Even if they don’t know anything about it, the locals will see you and they will report you either to them or to other parties after collapse of the Taliban and they will kill me in the other regime by the name of helping Taliban. I hope you can understand me.  

Taliban soldier: (looking down and feeling sad he said) Ok, it is ok, no problem. Just try to be bold and don’t be afraid to talk to them what they ask you. If you are afraid, they will think you are a bad guy. Do you speak Pashto?

Boy: Yes, I learned it at school.

Taliban soldier: Ok, that is very good. Speak to them in Pashto, it will help you, it can save you from many troubles, and tell them that you are not doing anything wrong and you just sport everyday and these people came and joined you for free. Show them that you are a good Muslim. If you have learned some prayers from school, here is the time to show that you know some Arabic prayers; they may also help you save your life from these dangerous people. Don’t show them that you are a highly educated man, they may feel jealous. Just pretend that you are a stupid religious Pashtun who does nothing except saying 5 time prayers in a day and those sports. If they ask you about your religion, don’t tell them that you are Shiite, they can’t prove it and maybe you have studied Sunni books at school and you know everything about Sunni religion, you better tell them that you are Sunni Hanafi but you are interested in Wahabi thoughts as well and tell them that you read some of his books. Tell them that your brother is fighting in the first line of Taliban in Kandahar even if you don’t have a brother. If they ask you why do you train these boys in sports? You better lie about it and tell them that sport is good for Taliban. Tell them that they are those Taliban soldiers that you are hiring them from the community and they are getting ready to join with you in the fight.

Boy: Ok, thanks for the advice. Why you are helping me?

Taliban soldier: Because I know what they think from inside and I don’t want you to suffer from them like me. I hate them but I can’t do anything. They send us in the front lines where there are land mines and save their own soldiers. If we go ahead, the Northern Alliance and Hazaras will kill us and if escape from the front line of the war, these Taliban will shoot us from behind. I don’t know this area very well and I can’t find my way to escape. If they find me after I escape, they will just shoot me right in my forehead because they shot many of my friends who escaped.

On half of the way, the boy meets another soldier of the Taliban who has a Kalashnikov on his shoulder

Taliban soldier: Here is my friend. He is also like me from Kabul. We both are the only Dari speakers who remained alive here and learned Pashto with them here. He is also looking for a way to escape.

Boy: Samalaikum, you look exactly like Akshay Kumar, a Hindustani film star. Do you know him?

Taliban soldier 2: He smiles and takes his finger against his lips and says (Assshhh) which means don’t say it loudly or be quite. Don’t talk about films and Hindi films for the Taliban. Real Taliban will kill you if they hear those names. Yes, I know him very well and I watched many of his films before the Taliban regime. But now TV, Radio and all other sorts of entertainment tools are prohibited.

Boy: Ok, I know it. But not among us.

Taliban soldier 2: Let’s forget about it in order to stay alive.

They reached the building after 30 minutes walk

The building has trees and there are many broken pieces of cassettes, tape recorders, taps and TV sets hanging on the trees which mean that they have broken it down. You all gun men around you with Turbans and they all look at you as another species. They have broken all the tables and chairs and they are using carpets such as rugs inside the office and they all sit on the floor. Some of them can’t speak properly because they have some “Naswaar” in their mouth. Everyone has a gun either on his shoulder or just beside him. There are no women in the offices. All of them are either old men or young boys. 

  

Taliban soldier: Sir, here is the sportsman.

Boy: Assalamo - alaikum wa rahmatullah-e- wa barakaatuhu! (Peace be upon you and the Mercy and Blessings of God be upon you).

Commander: Wa-alaikum-asalam (Peace be upon you too). Hagha de sport malem ta ye? (Are you the sports teacher? He asks the question in Pashto).

Boy: Yes sir that is me.  

Commander: Every day I see that you are training some boys. Are you training some soldiers against us in this area?  

Boy: No sir, they are ordinary boys who do the doing exercise to stay fit and healthy and some of them are those who are hired for the Taliban as soldiers because they need money.

Commander: I warn you to make sure that you don’t create problems for us. We already have too many people fighting against us just outside this village and we don’t want any other problems inside this village.  Ok?

Boy: Ok sir, if you order sir, I will stop this exercise.

Commander: Ok stop it then. Let me take you out to show you something.

They go out in the yard and see two men who have no top clothes and other two men are whipping them strongly and they cry loudly.

Commander: Do you know this man?

Boy: Yes sir, he was my student in sports.

Commander: And the other man?

Boy: No, I don’t know him sir.

Commander: He is his farmer. What kind of a person was your student?

Boy: He is a good boy sir.

Commander: You ask me to release him?

Boy: I don’t know what has he done?

Commander: He had an affair with the sister of his farmer. We knew it already. One day they both were caught in a barn of the cattle of the farmer’s house by the girl’s brother. He took the girl home and imprisoned the boy there and sent his own parents to the house of the boy and asked their parents to make an arrangement to make the two young to get married. The parents of the boy did not agree and the mother of the boy came reported a kidnapping of his son to the Taliban. We sent some soldiers and got the boy, the kidnapper brother and the girl. Now you have to do your job as a teacher to solve this issue.

Boy: I can’t do anything sir. Please don’t involve me in this case.

Commander: Are you sure you are not going to help with the Taliban? Do you know what does that mean?

Boy: What should I do sir?

Commander: Not much, because you speak good Pashto and that is why I am going to ignore all your sports and other problems that you can create, you just go to the parents of both families and tell them to bring us 5 million Afghani each so that we can arrange to ignore this issue by making these two young couple to get married after a 100 whips in the public. Otherwise the girl will remain as our bride and the boy will be tortured here in the prison.

Boy: Ok sir, I will take the message. What if the families do not have that much money?

Commander: They will find it because it is a serious issue and they will find it for sure. Tell them to find it by any means, if they want the boy and the girl alive.

The Taliban borrowed a car and a driver for the boy and after 2 hours he returns back

Boy: They don’t have it but it will take time for them to find it. They will sell whatever they have and they will make that much money.

Commander: You may go now, but make sure that you don’t tell anyone about it.

After a few weeks, the boys sees that there are many bodies in a car being carried to towards that building, he sees the bodies of the two boys who were trying to escape from the Taliban. He feels very sad because he could not help to save those two boys.

The boys and the girl were released finally from the prison and they were forcibly married by the Taliban to each other. The next day all the people are gathered in front of the house of the newlywed couple and there are some bodies found and there were blood all over the house.

We asked what happened there. They said that the brother of the girl came to seek revenge and he attacked to their house one night with a gun and fired at all the family and escaped from the village. He took his family already from the area and now he escaped to another country. The newlywed boy lost his parents in the gun shot and lost one of his own legs and his wife also died in the gunshot. The boy sold all what he had and left Afghanistan forever.

All this happened somewhere here.