World Beat: Kabul, Afghanistan
Taliban abandons Kabul
By Dheeraj Jagadev
Flat Hat Staff Writer
The Taliban militia, which has governed about 90 percent of Afghanistan for the past five years, retreated from the capital city of Kabul, Monday. Immediately afterward the opposing Northern Alliance, which had been asked to avoid entering Kabul by the United States and the United Nations, moved in to fill the vacuum. The Northern Alliance soldiers entering Kabul met with little or no resistance. The only Taliban soldiers who remained were Pakistani, Arab or Chechen volunteers whose resistance quickly folded.
The Taliban militia, dominated by ethnic Pashtuns comprising approximately 40 percent of the population, came to power in 1996 through a military coup. At the time, the Taliban was a fighting force that promised to rid Afghanistan of sectarian fighting and bring peace and security to a country that had been embroiled in civil war for 20 years.
The Taliban, which came out of the refugee camps in Pakistan as a result of the Soviet occupation, was educated in religious schools called madrassas. These schools were initially funded by Saudi Arabia, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim.
Most Saudis are followers of the Sunni sect Wahhabi. A majority of the Pashtuns follow Sunni Islam as well. The Taliban sought to institute a version of Islam similar to that of the Saudi interpretation, although it is not Wahhabi.
Among their chief restrictions, the Taliban outlawed television and all music except religious chants, required women to cover all parts of their bodies in public and mandated full beards for men.
The Northern Alliance is composed of minority ethnic groups such as Uzbeks, Tajiks, Hazaras and others. The air support provided by the United States in its war on the Taliban was a key factor in the victories of the Northern Alliance over the weekend. The offensive drive began with Friday's fall of Mazar-e-Sharif in Northern Afghanistan and continued after the fall of Kabul.
Within four days, the Northern Alliance expanded its possession of territory from 10 percent of Afghanistan to more than 40 percent. The country is now effectively partitioned, with the Alliance in control of the north and the Taliban in the south.
The last time the Northern Alliance was in control of Kabul was from 1992 to 1996. Infighting among the various groups in the Alliance forced its collapse and contributed to the success of the Taliban in 1996. The Northern Alliance was also accused of numerous human rights violations when it was in power, and has very little backing in the southern Afghanistan, where the majority of the people are Pashtuns.
The international community was caught completely off-guard by the recent developments and the United Nations rushed in to play a role in a post-Taliban administration in Afghanistan. The United Nations suggested setting up an interim government, a statement that has been echoed by the Northern Alliance. Jalalabad, a city east of Kabul controlling the highway to the Pakistani border, fell to Pashtun opposition to the Taliban not affiliated with the Northern Alliance.
PLAYERS: The Taliban, the Northern Alliance, the United Nations
HISTORY: The U.S.-led aerial bombing of Afghanistan over the past weeks led to the fall of Mazar-e-Sharif Nov. 9 and the abandonment of Kabul Monday.
CURRENT SITUATION: The Northern Alliance took control of Kabul, killing the remaining Taliban soldiers and overthrowing the restrictions the Taliban had mandated. The Taliban reportedly retreated to the rural mountains.
OUTLOOK: It is still unclear if the Northern Alliance will take power or if the United Nations, the United States and other outside forces will be able to set up a Muslim government.
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