Afghanistan: in cities conquered by the Taliban, the return of Sharia law
Taliban fighters pictured in Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, August 13, 2021. AP - Gulabuddin Amiri
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According to the Reuters news agency, the Taliban, which currently controls half of the provincial capitals of Afghanistan, continued their offensive on Friday (August 13th), taking possession of the town of Pol-é 'Alam, in Logar province, a few tens of kilometers from Kabul.
What exactly do we know, on a human level, of the situation in the towns and villages that the insurgents have seized in recent days?
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Herat, Kandahar, Ghazni ... Twenty years after the fall of Mullah Omar, half of the Afghan provincial capitals are now again under the yoke of the Taliban. The people are
horrified
; António Guterres also. This is what the Secretary General of the United Nations said on Friday, in view of the reports on violations of rights, in particular those of women, which reach him from conquered areas.
Where the army has withdrawn, there is no more fighting and the Taliban impose Islamic law, Sharia. Reached by phone by our correspondent in Kabul,
Sonia Ghezali
, several women in recently captured districts explain that they must wear a burqa when they go out, but also gloves and socks to fully cover their skin. They must also be accompanied by a male member of their family.
Some explain that the Taliban would have ordered male doctors in clinics not to see women if they consulted for headaches or illnesses deemed not to be serious.
Music is prohibited in public spaces.
A woman said that a teenager in her neighborhood was allegedly beaten because he listened to music too loud for the insurgents' taste, who passed in his street.
"
Administration totally in the hands of the Taliban
"
RFI's Persian writing was able to reach Shakib Siavoshi, journalist in Herat, the third largest city in the country, who fell on Thursday. "According to the information communicated by the elected representatives of the provincial council," he said, "the high authorities of the province such as the governor, the director of security, the commander of the military base, Ismail Khan, leader of the popular resistance, and some others, all surrendered and handed the city over to the Taliban. Herat is now entirely under the control of the latter. "
They announced there, relates our colleague, “
the establishment of their laws
”. And to be understood, “
they paraded around the city showing off two men arrested for theft whose faces had previously been blackened with tar,” says Shakib Siavoshi. The University of Hérat remains open. The flights are all canceled. The administration is totally in the hands of the Taliban, there is no sign of resistance from the security forces and the Taliban are beginning to apply their own law.
"
"
The situation in Ghazni is deplorable,"
confides by telephone an inhabitant of this other historic city which fell on Thursday.
The stores are closed and it is very difficult to find food. People have been in shock since the province fell to the Taliban. The seat of the governor, the police station, the courthouse, all the administrative buildings fell into the hands of the Taliban.
"
“
People are very scared, 90% of the stores are closed.
The Taliban have asked to open the shops, but the traders do not dare.
Last night and this morning, small arms fire was heard, people are afraid to go out, they are afraid that the government forces will counterattack or that the Taliban will demonstrate force in other parts of the city
” , adds our interlocutor.
Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, August 12, 2021. AP - Sidiqullah Khan
It is clearly a return to the law as the Taliban conceive it. Some say that attendance registers are kept in mosques to verify that men show up five times a day for daily prayer. All these testimonies show that the former masters of the country have not changed their state of mind since the period 1996-2001, at least in their interpretation of the Sharia.
With the conquest of Pol-é 'Alam, the insurgents
approach Kabul
, where the atmosphere is extremely heavy. Everyone in the capital, including thousands of internally displaced families, who fled their fighting province to find refuge here, now fear that the Taliban will make the country's political center the new line. head on.
Everyone is also waiting to see how the government will react: will it give in, capitulate, or resist, as the president seems to want to do? The Taliban have already taken many prisoners among the country's security forces and among representatives of local authorities in the conquered provinces. In Kabul, all say they hope that
Ashraf Ghani
will step down to avoid a bloodbath.
This Saturday, August 14, faced with the context of generalized fear that has settled in, the president nevertheless spoke and promised to remobilize the armed forces of his country.
In his address to the nation, the Head of State made no allusion to a possible resignation on his part.
He said he has started consultations within the government, with political leaders and with Afghanistan's international partners.
The terror of collaborators from foreign countries
The airport is crowded, the flights are full; those with a foreign passport or visa leave the country. Many people are trying to find a way to escape. Much of the population is worried about how the Taliban will treat, for example, government employees, security forces, journalists, civil society activists, ex-interpreters and employees of foreign forces.
The United States has promised that it will not let them down.
But many have been waiting for weeks for the American embassy to respond.
Dozens of former auxiliaries and interpreters of the French army to whom Paris has refused visas, are frightened.
They are begging the foreign and defense ministers to come to their aid, reports our correspondent in Kabul,
Sonia Ghezzali
.
→ Also listen: The concern of neighbors about the advance of the Taliban
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Afghanistan
Taliban
Human rights
Womens rights
Ashraf Ghani