Afghanistan’s new defense minister has punished junior Taliban fighters for “harming” the Islamist group’s status by taking selfies, wearing stylish clothes, going sightseeing and generally having too much fun.
Since the Taliban took over the country on August 15, its members have been seen riding bumper cars at amusement parks, visiting Kabul’s zoo and enjoying a range of other attractions, many of which have never encountered before.
“Stay on the task that has been assigned to you. You are harming our position, which has been created with the blood of our martyrs,” Defense Minister Mawlawi Yacoub said last week, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Yacoub, the son of the Taliban founder, argued that selfies taken by junior members with the group’s commanders could compromise the security of the new regime by revealing the leaders’ locations.
He criticized some fighters for adopting Western fashions such as shoulder length hair, stylish clothes and cropped beards.
“This is the behavior of the warlords and gangsters of the puppet regime,” he said, referring to the previous US-backed government that was overthrown by the Taliban. “If we continue to act like this, God forbid, we will lose our Islamic system.”
People are having such fun in Kabul (airport) these days! pic.twitter.com/WEsEXFfivw
– Afghanistan Resistance Panjshir Valley ?????????????? (@afghanistan6867) September 23, 2021
Between the Kanan and the Maga people, watching Corona and the Taliban (responsible for the terrorist attack on the Americans) ride bumper cars from some crazy lab, I feel like I’ve woken up in a real live nightmare?? ?? pic.twitter.com/tyjTJ59tSN
— ????????????6262 (@infinity6262) September 20, 2021
In the sight of God!
These people are considered the rulers of this civilization!? What crime have the poor people of Afghanistan committed that should be punished like this? ???? pic.twitter.com/YXXuo0B7Gc— Abdul Qader Fakirzadah (@QaderFaqirzadah) September 22, 2021
After completing their takeover of the country, the Taliban appeared to launch a public relations blitz, telling Afghans and the world that life under their rule would be different this time, smiling and waving to journalists, selfies in the streets. and even sat down for a TV interview with a female journalist.
But Taliban 2.0 is a tough sell. Memories of the brutal 1996-2001 regime of terrorists and nearly two decades of insurgency that killed thousands are etched in the minds of Afghans – especially women and religious minorities.
While the group is trying to show a moderate, fresh face, there have been reports of fighters harassing journalists and not allowing women to enter universities in some parts of the country.
Images of women have been covered up or vandalized at storefronts around Kabul, and their promoters are still allegedly torturing people in rural Afghanistan and small towns.
“They have better PR now… they can speak English, they can talk to the international media,” Pashtana Durrani, who runs a women’s education charity in the southern city of Kandahar, told Britain’s Channel 4 in an interview. “What they are saying in the press conference and what they are doing on the ground… are two different things. It is a grim truth that they have not changed, they are the same people.”