The Making of a Taliban?
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN: I met Khalid in Mirwais Hospital, where he was being treated for severe body injuries, including a broken hand and numerous bruises and lacerations.
When I asked him what had happened to him at first he shook his head and said nothing. I tried to make some small talk to make him comfortable. And then he began to talk.
Khalid told me that during the Taliban regime he had lived in a village in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province, where he attended a madrassa (Islamic religious school). One day one of the students became seriously ill and the head of the madrassa called a doctor who had a pharmacy and an office in a nearby village.
“In the villages of Afghanistan we believe that doctors are the most educated people on earth,” said Khalid. “Everyone shows a lot of respect for doctors, and when this doctor arrived in our madrassa most of the students went to greet him and shake his hand, so I went too.”
Khalid said that after visiting the sick boy, the doctor sat down with the other students. Khalid was very happy to be sitting with a doctor and listened attentively to the conversation. At one point one of the students asked: “How can I become a doctor?” The doctor laughed and asked him whether he really wanted to know. And all the students answered: “Yes, of course we want to know!”
The doctor said that first he had gone to school for 12 years. Then he prepared himself for an entry exam called Kankor and obtained a good score. After that he went to university for 7 years in Kabul and Jalalabad. The doctor discussed the many problems he faced as a university student but also mentioned some of the highlights of his student life. Khalid listened carefully to each one of his words and began to dream that he too could one day become a doctor.
After the 9/11 attacks, the United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban regime. The madrassa that Khalid had been attending was closed. A few months later a friend of Khalid who had been living in Quetta, Pakistan, returned to his village for a vacation. He brought a big buzz in the village when he told everyone: “In Kandahar City, people have been holding huge singing shows. Forget about Quetta!”
He also said that in other parts of Afghanistan “many people, both male and female, are going to school without any hesitation. Especially in Kandahar.”
Khalid was really excited about the news from Kandahar and he made up his mind that he would go there to pursue his education and become a doctor.
Khalid moved to Kandahar City in 2003. He enrolled in a private school, despite his meager economic resources, because there he could complete two years in one, and thus would finish elementary school in half the time. Besides that, he was already in his late teens by that time, and it would have been embarrassing for him to sit with little children through first, second, and third grade.
Khalid finished the sixth grade in late 2005 and because at that time private schools were not allowed to teach classes beyond the sixth grade he then had to continue his education in public schools.
It was at this time that a Kandahari friend of Khalid told him about the Mechanic School. In this school, students can advance their education while also learning a profession. The Mechanic School also has a hostel for its students, and since Khalid always had money problems he decided to study there.
A few months ago, Khalid’s father called him to tell him that his mother was seriously ill and that he did not have enough money to take her to Kandahar City. Even though Khalid’s ninth grade exams were close, he immediately packed his bag and left for Musa Qala.
Khalid then looked at me and said: “You see me, I am typical Helmandi man with a long beard, and when I travel back to my village I tie a black turban around my head, because it’s my culture, but also for security, because the Taliban are strong in my home district.
“We were on Highway 1 near the district of Grishk in Helmand province. We had been traveling for almost an hour aboard an old Toyota when the police stopped us. The checkpoint commander looked at our car, and then at me. He came closer and said I was a Taliban. Without any further questioning he called his policemen and they all started beating me for no reason.
“They beat me so much that I became unconscious. When I woke up I was here in Mirwais Hospital. I do not know who brought me here. I do not know about the conditions of my mother, if she is feeling better or if she is worse. The police stole my money and my phone while I was unconscious. My father always called me on my cell phone, that number was all he had to contact me… I cannot call him because the Taliban banned cell phones in our village and destroyed all mobile towers in the area. Only satellite phones work over there, and my father does not own one. So now I have no way to talk to my family and find out about the health of my mother.”
Khalid became very emotional. He was furious with the police and the Afghan government. I wish you readers had been there because you could have felt how Khalid’s resentment toward the police and the government continued to grow as he spoke.
He said: “The people from Helmand are not all the same but the government paints them all with the same brush. Well, from now on I am going to do the same. I am going to paint all the government people with the same brush.”
As I listened, I could imagine Khalid as a future Taliban fighter. The anger I could see in his eyes told me everything. Do not discount this story because it is exactly among people like Khalid that the Afghan government is losing support. Meanwhile, the Taliban movement is becoming increasingly popular, because villagers think that only the Taliban will protect them from hostile government forces.
January 17th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
What a sad and infuriating situation!
This story is extremely powerful and moving. It’s the kind of stories you don’t read in the newspapers, that makes one realize the complex situations the people of Afghanistan are faced with on a daily basis.
Thank you Zabih for this article.
January 18th, 2010 at 2:34 am
Wow, it is great to hear these kind stories, As an Afghan it really touched my heart?
January 24th, 2010 at 1:05 am
I must say it is a very interesting story. It looks that the Afghan government is actual problem rather than insurgents.
January 24th, 2010 at 5:57 am
I mean that the Afghan government is part of the problem rather than part of solution.