The Taliban won. So why, and who, are they still fighting?
| LONDON
Former Afghan officials who once served the American-backed government in Kabul say the war against them did not end with the Taliban鈥檚 victory in mid-August.
Across Afghanistan, members of the jihadist group are pursuing revenge attacks with a single-minded determination that may even be quickening in pace, according to ex-officials and independent rights monitors.
They cite incidents of Taliban violence 鈥� from聽the聽dragging聽of聽a聽6-year-old boy behind a motorcycle to pressure his father, to聽the severe聽beating聽of聽the brother of another former official聽in an attempt聽to聽reveal his hiding place 鈥� and聽they聽say colleagues taken by the Taliban are turning up dead, one after another.
Why We Wrote This
Behind an unrelenting wave of attacks on former Afghan officials is a story of Taliban success and failure: creation of a well-indoctrinated generation of fighters that is ill-prepared to move on.
Taliban leaders had declared a blanket amnesty that was meant to include even Afghan security forces and intelligence operatives, who had fought the Taliban for 20 years. Yet, because of their role in the collapsed U.S. nation-building exercise, the former officials instead describe still being treated as the 鈥渆nemy,鈥� as 鈥渋nfidels鈥� subject to killings, disappearances, and confiscations of houses and cars.
The targeted violence 鈥撀爓hich appears to be increasing as the Taliban tap into captured government databases, according to experts and Western human rights monitors 鈥� shows how little the jihadis have shifted their thinking, and their priorities, even as Afghanistan faces new immediate crises of severe hunger and economic meltdown.
鈥淵ou absolutely have a reluctance on the part of the Taliban [leadership] to acknowledge the extent to which this [violence] is happening,鈥� says Andrew Watkins, an Afghanistan expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
The Taliban have 鈥渏ust been unwilling or unable to challenge the militant nature of their own organization,鈥� he says.
The Taliban鈥檚 most devoted members, he says, 鈥渓ook out and see a landscape of very, very recently defeated enemies. Sometimes they鈥檙e taking them out because they鈥檙e a threat; sometimes because they feel like it鈥檚 righting a wrong. Sometimes they鈥檙e just doing it because all they鈥檝e known is 鈥榟unt down and seek out and eliminate the enemy.鈥欌��
Effective indoctrination
The Taliban leadership 鈥減roved incredibly effective at indoctrinating and incubating an entire generation of fighters,鈥� says Mr. Watkins. 鈥淭hose guys have the mindsets that they do because of Taliban propaganda 鈥� and now they can鈥檛 put a lid on it.鈥�
The result is that local Taliban commanders and fighters appear to be pursuing former government officials with the same zeal with which, for two decades, they waged an insurgency, and, a year ago, stepped up a targeted assassination campaign against officials, civil society activists, and journalists.
In central Wardak province, for example, a former finance officer shows photographs of his 6-year-old son, recently bloodied and bruised after being seized by the Taliban. The boy was beaten, tied up, and dragged behind a motorcycle for 10 yards 鈥� actions witnessed by neighbors, the father says 鈥� because the boy did not know where his father was in hiding.
The Taliban message? 鈥淵our death is permissible and your house and all your belongings are a prize for us, because you are not Muslim, and for 20 years you [were] a slave to the Americans,鈥� says the former official, who asked not to be named for his safety.
The posse of a dozen Taliban fighters demanded that the former official forfeit his house, claiming it was 鈥済overnment鈥� property. The family refused, noting the house had been built with private funds.
鈥淭he Taliban say former government officials are safe and secure, that no one can hurt, kill, or insult them 鈥� but this is just a slogan from the Taliban, and secret terrors are still going on,鈥� says the former official.
War booty
Even before the Taliban victory, the official often received death threats, he says. His fears were heightened recently when two former colleagues, arrested by the Taliban last month, turned up dead.
鈥淭hey call former officials 鈥榰nbelievers,鈥� not committed to Islam and God, [who] should be tortured physically and mentally,鈥� he says. 鈥淭aking cars and houses and other property is booty for them.鈥�
The disconnect between the Taliban鈥檚 official amnesty and the targeting of former officials is made clear in a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released this week. It found that more than 100 former security and intelligence officers had been executed or 鈥渇orcibly disappeared鈥� in just four provinces between August and the end of October.
One Taliban commander from central Ghazni province told HRW that they have lists of people to target who have committed 鈥渦nforgivable鈥� acts.
鈥淭he pattern of the killings has sown terror throughout Afghanistan, as no one associated with the former government can feel secure they have escaped the threat of reprisal,鈥� the report noted.
The surprise, says Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at HRW, is that Taliban revenge killings 鈥渉ave not only continued, but possibly increased and are more deliberate 鈥� as they鈥檝e had time to go through documents, and all the information the fleeing government left behind鈥� that allow them to pinpoint new targets.
Reasons for going after former officials include revenge, she says, as well as providing booty to fighters, and even going after senior district and provincial personalities to stymie the chances of organized resistance.
Placating the fighters
The Taliban 鈥渃an鈥檛 pay these guys, and they need to give them something,鈥� says Ms. Gossman. 鈥淭he revenge part of it was also a kind of payback. They recruited these guys saying, 鈥榊ou鈥檒l get your chance to get revenge on whoever did whatever to your family.鈥� So they choose not to pull the plug on that now.鈥�
The Taliban also 鈥渇ear alienating any of their ranks because they know they could be recruited by the Islamic State,鈥� adds Ms. Gossman, who notes the volatility of a situation 鈥渨here people don鈥檛 have enough food on the table.鈥�
鈥淭here are a lot of armed, angry young men who could be recruited by anyone,鈥� she says.
In late September the Taliban established a commission to purge wrongdoers. While publicly noting 鈥渋solated reports鈥� of unauthorized executions, the Taliban told HRW it had removed 755 members for lesser offenses and set up a military tribunal to try cases of murder and torture.
But examples abound of continued abuses. In southern Helmand province, a former district governor who worked closely with the U.S. military and diplomats is among many on the run. He was widely praised in 2015 for wrapping his arms around a would-be Taliban suicide bomber, who had infiltrated a public meeting, to prevent him from detonating his explosive vest.
The former official 鈥渉ad endangered himself for the lives of scores of others,鈥� according to the letter of recommendation for a U.S. special immigrant visa, written by an American official he worked closely with.
But the former Afghan official, who asked not to be named for security reasons, was unable to get on an evacuation flight last August. Instead, he is being hunted. He shares voice messages spread between Taliban commanders, who dismiss the amnesty and order their fighters to 鈥渉ave no mercy鈥� and kill former officials 鈥渨herever you see them.鈥�
One Taliban phone message addresses him directly: 鈥淵our killing is my only desire. I am asking Allah to find you.鈥�
In recent weeks, he says, three of his colleagues, all former officials, have been arrested and killed by the Taliban. His own brother was held for 10 days and severely beaten in a bid to discover his whereabouts and details of property that could be seized.
A Robin Hood-esque narrative
And in eastern Nangarhar province, the wife of one former finance ministry official recounts how even after the Taliban took the family鈥檚 car, militants later came for their house, accusing the family of serving as a 鈥減uppet of America.鈥�
鈥淲e told them that we are Muslims, we pray and follow all Islamic rules, but the local Taliban commander said, 鈥楴o, you are infidels in Muslim clothes, and you are our absolute enemy,鈥欌�� she says.
Her husband refused to give up the house and was severely beaten, she says. The Taliban arrested him more than a month ago, and he has not been seen since. Her home and possessions were seized.
Many Taliban fighters seeking revenge have long nursed grievances, which often include abuses and corruption at the hands of the previous Western-backed political order.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy for people to tell themselves, 鈥榃ell, we鈥檙e just righting a wrong,鈥欌�� says Mr. Watkins of the U.S. Institute of Peace. 鈥淚n some cases you have Taliban 鈥� who almost have a Robin Hood-esque narrative of, 鈥榃e have to take away from the awful, corrupt class that was previously in charge and give back to those who were marginalized, sidelined, or ignored.鈥�
鈥淭he only problem now is the people doing the taking are the new power brokers, the new abusers,鈥� says Mr. Watkins. 鈥淎nd there is really nothing to check their behavior.鈥�
