Debunking Taliban Myths
Both the international community and the Taliban (and their apologists and lobbyers) are spreading misinformation about the Taliban. Here you will find responses to some of the most common misconceptions spread by them.
Misconception 1: The Taliban are not that bad. At least, Taliban 2.0 is better than Taliban 1.0
The Taliban are a group of Islamist Pashtun ethno-fascist terrorists. It is simply incorrect to say that Taliban 2.0 is better than Taliban 1.0. The narrative that Taliban 2.0 is better than Taliban 1.0 is part of the propaganda that the Taliban, and their supporters, are using to further their interests (1).
In their first reign of power in 1996-2001, the Taliban terrorized the people of Afghanistan. They committed genocide against Hazaras, and actively persecuted other non-Pashtun groups in the country such as Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Turkmen (2). The Taliban also committed atrocities against Pashtuns who opposed them during this period (3). Additionally, the group implemented gender apartheid by, for instance, banning women from working and girls from receiving an education.
Between 2001-2021, the Taliban – then ousted from power – continued to terrorize the people of Afghanistan in the form of carrying out suicide attacks and bomb blasts across the country. More than 65,000 Afghanistani soldiers and 45,000 civilians died due to Taliban attacks in this 20-year period (3).
Since they violently ceased control of Afghanistan again in the summer of 2021, the Taliban are now further emboldened in their terror towards the people of Afghanistan and have resumed the same approach to governance used in the 1990s. They have closed school for girls beyond grade 6, and have made it difficult for women to work or participate actively in society (4).
They are conducting ethnic cleansing and genocide against Hazaras (across Afghanistan) and Tajiks (particularly from Panjshir, Andarab and other provinces north of Kabul) (e.g. 5, 6, 7). They are committing ethnic cleansing and genocide against Uzbeks, Turkmens, and other non-Pashtuns (8, 9). They are also carrying out targeted attacks against Pashtuns who oppose them (10). Rather than addressing the catastrophic humanitarian crisis – inflicted by them – on the country (11), they are more concerned with imposing Islamist policies and policing them (12).
Misconception 2: It is necessary to engage with the Taliban to help the people of Afghanistan.
There are many unexplored alternatives that can be used to help the people of Afghanistan, which do not involve engagement with the Taliban. For instance, the international community can recognize resistance groups such as the National Resistance Front (NRF) as the legitimate authority of the country and/or set up a government in exile until the Taliban are ousted from power, and provide a humanitarian corridor to civilians for instance in areas under the control of resistance forces, as well as material support to resistance forces.
Engaging with the Taliban does not benefit the people of Afghanistan, but only serves to legitimize the terrorist group (1). For instance, engagement with the Taliban during the Doha ‘Peace Process’ only emboldened the Taliban to continue violent attacks against the people of Afghanistan in the pursuit of securing power (2, 3).
The Taliban do not keep their promises, nor are they open for changing their policies or attitude toward human rights. Their unwillingness to open up education for girls is just one example of this, which has gained a lot of attention (4).
Misconception 3: It is necessary to unfreeze Afghanistan’s currently frozen assets in order to help the people of Afghanistan.
The frozen assets of Afghanistan belong to the people of Afghanistan, not the terrorist group that is currently terrorizing them. Unfreezing Afghanistan’s assets should only be done if the international community can secure a sure way that the funds will reach the actual people of the country, rather than the terrorists.
There are strong reasons to believe that if the frozen assets of Afghanistan reach the hands of the Taliban, they will not be used to benefit the people of the country, but rather utilized for promoting terrorism both in and outside of Afghanistan:
- The Taliban are already very rich, but are not using their wealth to ameliorate the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan (1).
- The Taliban continue to openly glorify terrorism and suicide attacks (2).
- The Haqqani network (one of the strongest branches of the Taliban) is known for maintaining close ties with Al-Qaeda (3).
- Aid that is currently being sent by the international community is often hijacked by the Taliban (4). The Taliban prevent civilians, particularly from non-Pashtun ethnicities to access aid money, but rather use it to fund their own fighters (5).
Misconception 4: The people of Afghanistan like the Taliban.
The vast majority of the people of Afghanistan despise the Taliban, as they are suffering immensely under them (1). This is particularly true of non-Pashtuns, who comprise a majority of the population of the country and are systematically persecuted by the Taliban (2).
However, there is a loud and influential minority of both people within the country, as well as the diaspora, who sympathize with the Taliban. It is impossible to understand why this minority – including prominent public intellectuals, many of whom lead liberal lifestyles – sympathize with a force such as the Taliban, without taking into account the ethno-fascist nature of the Taliban (3). The Taliban are overwhelmingly Pashtun and Pashtunist (4) and their policies aim for the Pashtunization of Afghanistan (5). Those who support them have sympathies with this ethno-fascist agenda (3).
Misconception 5: The people of Afghanistan are not willing to fight the Taliban.
Even before the USA and NATO invaded Afghanistan in 2001, Afghanistan had an active resistance force and government in exile that fought the Taliban fiercely (1). During the American occupation (between 2001-2021), 65,000 Afghanistani soldiers gave up their lives in the fight against the Taliban (2). Since the Taliban took over control of Afghanistan in 2022, resistance continues both through civil disobedience (e.g. 3, 4), as well as armed resistance which originated in Panjshir and Andarab and is spreading all across the country (5).
The people of Afghanistan have been fighting the Taliban for decades and will continue to do so until the Taliban are removed from power. There are multiple reasons why Afghanistan’s official armed forces failed to prevent the Taliban’s violent takeover of power in the summer of 2021. Some of these include:
- The Doha ‘Peace’ Deal struck between the USA and the Taliban (without the involvement of the people of Afghanistan) and handed off Afghanistan to the Taliban (6).
- The US had trained the official armed forces to be dependent on air support for their operations but withdrew this air support in the summer of 2021. This weakened and demoralized the armed forces (7).
- There was corruption in the higher ranks of the armed forces, much like in the rest of the government. There are reports of illicit deals between the Taliban and higher-ranking officials of the armed forces – who then ordered the lower-ranking military to stand down – during the Taliban’s takeover of power (8).
- Tribalism and Pashtun nationalism – supported by the US and NATO – in Afghanistan’s government motivated the then president of the country to suppress and sabotage non-Pashtun armed resistance against the Taliban, and ultimately surrender the country to the Pashtunist Taliban (9,10,11).
Misconception 6: Life under the Taliban is peaceful and the people of Afghanistan do not want another war.
Life under the Taliban is not peaceful and the war in Afghanistan is far from over. The humanitarian crisis that started after the Taliban takeover of the country in August 2021 is costing thousands of lives (1). Furthermore, the Taliban are perpetuating violence in the country in multiple ways: reprisal killings, rape, disappearances, and torture of former army officers, activists, journalists, academics, and ordinary civilians (2); ethnic cleansing and genocide of non-Pashtuns (3, 4, 5); infighting between factions of the Taliban (6); fighting with forces in neighboring countries (7, 8). Given the grave situation of the country, many of the people of Afghanistan are forced to either flee the country or raise arms and fight against the Taliban (9, 10).
It is true that since the exit of the US and NATO from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, the US and NATO are no longer committing atrocities in the Pashtun majority south/southeast of the country (where the Taliban is from and would hide) (11). Some civilians in the south who have been victims of US and NATO drone strikes in the past 20 years, might feel some relief at this and see the situation in the south as being relatively peaceful compared to when the US and NATO were in the country. However, violence has only amplified throughout the rest of Afghanistan since the Taliban’s takeover of power, and there is a country-wide crackdown on human rights that affects all civilians (9). Furthermore, the south and southeastern parts of the country are not really peaceful either. A good example of violence is the attack on Khost and Kunar by Pakistan in early April 2022 killing 10s of people (12).
Misconception 7: Pakistan is not responsible for the rise of power of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
There is no doubt, for anyone with any knowledge about the conflict in Afghanistan, that Pakistan is largely responsible for the rise of power of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan, as a NATO and American partner, has denied any involvement with the Taliban since the 1990s, but evidence going back decades shows otherwise (1, 2, 3, 4).
In what ways has Pakistan supported the Afghan Taliban and helped them?
- Trained Taliban in Pakistani madrassas across the border from Afghanistan.
- Provided a safe haven to the Afghan Taliban in Pakistan during the past 20 years.
- Provided weapons and monetary help to the Taliban during the past 20 years.
- Lobbied for the recognition of the Taliban (5).
Why is Pakistan interested in helping the Taliban?
A strong Afghanistan is a threat to Pakistan: Afghanistan has long been led by Pashtuns, many of whom reject the border with Pakistan (the Durand border) because of their co-Pashtuns living on the other side of the border. Pashtun nationalism in Afghanistan is thus a threat to the territorial integrity of Pakistan. While the Taliban are Pashtun ethno-fascists, their lack of education combined with violence ensures that they cannot govern a country and that Afghanistan will always remain weak while under their rule.
How can Pakistan support the Afghan Taliban when it is itself threatened by the Pakistani Taliban?
The rise of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) is an unintended consequence of Pakistan’s policy of supporting the Afghan Taliban (5). The TTP is indeed a threat to Pakistan, and Pakistan is busy maneuvering how to continue supporting the Afghan Taliban and simultaneously crack down on the TTP.
Misconception 8: Pakistan is solely responsible for the rise of power of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
While Pakistan has undeniably played a crucial role in the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan, it is not the sole party responsible for this calamity. Other parties responsible include:
- The American backed Pashtun ethno-fascist and corrupt government of Afghanistan
Between 2001-2021, the highly centralized government of Afghanistan was led by Pashtun nationalist presidents who had much of the power of the country in their hands. Hamid Karzai – the president from 2001-2014 – repeatedly referred to the terrorist Taliban as ‘my brothers’(1, 2) and refused to implement policies to ensure their demise from the country (3). Similarly, Ashraf Ghani – the president from 2014-2021 – followed Karzai’s approach of implementing Pashtunist policies in Afghanistan aiming to suppress non-Pashtun armed opposition against the Taliban (4, 5, 6, 7). The government’s ethnic nationalism and sympathy for the Taliban, combined with their notorious corruption (8), lead to a weak and failed Afghanistan, which the Taliban could then quickly gain control of as soon as American and NATO troops withdrew. It is even
- The brutality of the US and NATO in southern and southeastern Afghanistan
American and NATO forces caused mass suffering in southern and southeastern Afghanistan between 2001-2021, in the form of drone strikes, night raids, airstrikes, and other attacks on innocent civilians (8). This brutality led to a resurgence of the Taliban in the south and southeast – and then the rest of the country – after they were toppled from power in 2001.
- The Doha ‘Peace’ Deal and the manner in which American troops withdrew from Afghanistan
The problem with the American withdrawal from Afghanistan is not that Americans left, but the way in which they left. Before leaving the country, under President Donald Trump and Pashtunist Afghan-American US Envoy for Peace Zalmay Khalilzad, the USA brokered and signed the Doha ‘Peace’ Deal with the Taliban. The Peace Deal largely excluded the voices of the government or people of Afghanistan – or even NATO –, and in effect handed off the power of Afghanistan from the USA to the Taliban in exchange for non-interference with American troops and not supporting global terrorism outside of Afghanistan (9). President Joe Biden honored Trump’s deal and quickly and chaotically – withdrew American troops, without a well-thought strategy to ensure the government of Afghanistan would not topple, or at least, not right away (10).
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