The Taliban is claiming to have at least somewhat changed their evil and oppressive ways. They’ve invited women to apply for government positions and they even allowed a female U.S. reporter to hang out with them for a while. Neither of these would have happened under the strict Islamics laws they ruled with in the past, but here’s the anticipated question. Who believes them? They’re…the Taliban for Allah’s sake.
They say they have granted amnesty to all Afghan citizens who worked to assist the U.S. and they hold absolutely no ill-will. They are free to come out of hiding. Sure thing…
Meanwhile, their unsupervised troops are in the streets proving how nothing has changed at all. When a mother of three children informed a group of 15 Taliban soldiers that she was too poor to be able to feed all of them as they demanded, she was beaten to death as her terrified children watched.
In Herat, two men were accused of thievery by Taliban soldiers and received their unjust punishment without the benefit of a trial. The Taliban aren’t big on formalities. They completely blackened the men’s faces with tar before tieing nooses around their necks and leading them through town like dogs on a leash.
As with anything that happens in the streets of any town full of Muslims, the spectacle drew a huge crowd of local men and other Taliban who were nearby. The crowd narrowed in on the two men as they waved their fists in the air at them and those who were armed struck them with the butts of their rifles. Think about this.
The majority of the onlookers were not Taliban. They were ordinary citizens which probably consisted of some former Afghan soldiers who threw down their weapons and walked off when the Taliban came to town. Regardless of that, the very same people who American and NATO troops sacrificed their lives to protect, within only a short matter of days, were cheering the Taliban on like they were old friends. But not all is as it appears.
One of Afghanistan’s leading journalists, Bilal Sawary, released photos of the mean being lead around. “This was after the Friday prayers inside Herat city,” Sawary tweeted. “Taliban style Justice often means hands of thieves are chopped off.” These guys at least lucked out in this respect.
A comment to the tweet read, “This is medieval and barbaric. I cannot believe this is happening now and I weep with sadness and with shame.”
The men who were falling in cahoots with the Taliban were only doing so to keep from being slaughtered. If they don’t offer an enthusiastic show of support it could literally mean their head going on a chopping block. Because so many families have fled the city of 600,000, many into neighboring Iran, and those remaining are hiding in their houses afraid to come out, Herad looks like a ghost town. Only those who have to go out, like the men in the photos who needed to work, do so, and they play the part required of them.
Every ad or poster depicting a female face has been either ripped down or painted over. A female not covering every inch of skin or going out in public without a male escort could cost them their final breath, and the Taliban are already claiming brides as young as 12.
This doesn’t need to be repeated, but, they’re the Taliban…
