KABUL AND KASHMIR

As Trump administration finally shook hands with the Taliban in Doha and promised to withdraw within 14 months after 18 years, does the ‘Pakeezah’ moment mean anything to Kashmir? Senior journalist Iftikhar Gilani explains the new milestone in the age-old Great Games

- Iftikhar Gilani

In the wee hours of August 1994, a wailing woman was trying to catch the attention of passersby in Spin Boldak, a border town in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province, next to the border with Pakistan. When she was travelling on way to Pakistan’s Chaman border, gunmen loyal to a local warlord, a former commander of anti-Soviet Mujahideen group had kidnapped her daughter. A black turbaned tall Pathan, on his way back from the mosque after hearing the story of the wailing woman, scrambled 15 youth, all students of a madrassa and invaded the abode of the warlord. After a brief exchange of fire, the warlord retreated as people in the Spin Boldak had also joined this oneeyed Pathan against the warlord’s gang. Upon searching the dera, they found scores of kidnapped girls and teenage boys, who had been forced to work as sex slaves.

The one-eyed man was none else by Mulla Omar, who founded the Taliban with his 15 friends. He had fought with the anti-Soviet Mujahideen under the command of Nek Mohammed of the Hizb-eIslamiKhalis. However, he did not join fighting against the communist regime of Najibullah. Wounded four times, exploding shrapnel destroyed one of his eyes during a battle in Sangsar, Panjwaye district in 1987. After 1989, he had given up fighting and had taken a teaching job in a madrassa.

Soon after the fall of Najibullah, Afghanistan was a lawless state. Mujahideen commanders turned warlords were fleecing people, kidnapping young girls and boys. When Mulla Omar’s men drew warlords away, war fatigued population in other areas invited them to restore order. The governors of Helmand and Gazni willingly surrendered their provinces.