Sun, Oct 28, 2001 page5

• Taliban official `sad' at Afghanistan's conflict

  PERSONAL REFLECTION Though he admits his country has suffered tragic losses over the years, Qatradullah Jamal says the Taliban will fight an honorable battle

  • AP
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  He has the bushy beard and flowing turban one would expect in a man who hails from the ranks of the Taliban. But there are the unexpected touches too.

  For one thing, he's quick to smile. He loves to talk about the antics of his young son. He reveres his mother -- "She knows every decision I make," he says.

  Qatradullah Jamal, a 32-year-old former Taliban foot soldier, is now on the front lines of another battle: the information war.

  In an interview yesterday in his besieged capital, Jamal, the Taliban information minister, complained that the Taliban movement is misunderstood.

  "I know about the world," he said. "I know about the feelings of the world toward us. It makes me sad."

  Jamal is a man who looks both outward and inward. A globe sits on the corner of his desk in his second-floor office of the Taliban radio building, which has been a sometime target of US warplanes.

  On the wall opposite is a calendar depicting Afghanistan encased in heavy chains, a fighter jet firing down on it. Koranic verses extol the virtues of resistance and embracing Islam.

  Jamal likes to portray the Taliban as underdogs in their battle with America.

  "We are people with guns and artillery and they are with sophisticated aircraft, ships and soldiers," he said. "It's another superpower against us."

  Jamal was a boy of eight when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. He grew up in Pakistan as a refugee, studying at an Islamic seminary, or madrassa. Back in those days, he said, Afghans considered America a friend.

  "When Afghans talked of America it was a good memory, but now Afghans will remember only the bombs on their heads," he said. "America should have kept Afghan people in their heart."

  Jamal is typical of many young Taliban adherents -- the movement's name is the plural of `talib, or student -- who did not fight against the former Soviet Union.

  They were young refugees when that war was raging, and thought they would return to their homeland to live under an Islamic government of the mujahidin, or holy warriors, who had fought communism and won.

  Those mujahidin were his heroes, Jamal said. But they had betrayed him.

  After the Soviets left in 1989, the mujahidin turned their guns on each other, pounded the capital into ruin and killed about 50,000 people. Now they are united under the banner of the northern alliance, the rebel military force battling the Taliban in Afghanistan's north.

  Mujahidin commanders became warlords, dividing the country like spoils of war. They hijacked vehicles, even UN convoys, and staged kidnappings for ransom.

  "We heard stories in our madrassa about what was happening in Afghanistan," Jamal recalled. "They said that they were making people behave like dogs and that women, children and men were being captured on the roads, nothing was safe."

  His school shut down, but unlike most of the other students, Jamal didn't go straight to Afghanistan to fight. First he consulted his mother.

  "I told her I had to go to my home to make it safe. Her heart was worried but she understood," he said.

  Jamal doesn't believe the Taliban will be easily defeated, despite the overwhelming military strength of the US. Day or night, whenever a US bomber flies high overhead, the Taliban fire with antiquated anti-aircraft weapons.

  The bombs pound the city, shaking windows and doors, sending residents fleeing for cover.

  Jamal knows why the air campaign is being waged, but says he wants proof of Osama bin Laden's involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The US says all the proof needed has already been provided.

  Like other Taliban officials, Jamal portrays the fight as a war unfairly waged against Islam as a whole.

  "Osama is just one man," he said. "He doesn't represent all Muslims."
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Eurovision Song Contest triggers surge in betting interest

  • 2

    Barcelona crowned champions

  • 3

    Napoli close in on title despite Parma stalemate

  • 4

    Sinner cruises past Ruud, Gauff battles into final

  • 5

    ‘Beitou Shilin’ announced as new Nvidia office site