Afghanistan: trip to Taliban country

Published on : 06/11/2021 – 14:48

Currently, fighting is raging across the country between Afghan soldiers and the Taliban. Fundamentalist guerrillas are gaining ground against a bloodless Afghan army. The Taliban are said to already control more than half of the territory, especially the countryside. Areas that have not benefited from the more than 150 billion dollars of development aid paid for 15 years by the international community, and partly diverted by the elites in the cities.

Our reporters were able to follow the Taliban “masters of the countryside” on their land, visit their schools and their courts.

In a village in Wardak province, less than two hours’ drive from Kabul, 10-year-old Zainab spends four hours a day learning the Koran at a makeshift school after the Taliban have not built a facility. for girls. His father, who lost relatives in a blunder of Afghan and American forces, praised the fighters, who he said ensure the security of the village. Subject to constant vigilance, most of them say the same thing. Because the Taliban are everywhere: from food law to frequency of prayers, they interfere in every aspect of daily life.

Not far away, in a mosque, the “shadow government” decides on laws and new prohibitions. Then, at the foot of a century-old tree, judges administer justice in a public court. The clinic is the only sanctuary for women, otherwise invisible in public space. They share their sorrows with a young general practitioner from the capital.

By immersing themselves in a Taliban village, and after having obtained very rare access within the main institutions, Solène Chalvon-Fioriti and Margaux Benn shed a disturbing light on today’s Taliban society, and on the workings of this An ultra-conservative parallel state which could well, if the rebels win, foreshadow the Afghanistan of tomorrow.