Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Nostalgia per i Talebani

Relata refero.
Namib
---
"Remember, I'll always be around.
(Azazel)
-------------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45302-2005Mar17.html
Spate of Violent Crime Spurs Nostalgia for Taliban
Child Kidnappings Crystallize Afghans' Discontent With Ex-Warlords in
Power
By N.C. Aizenman
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 18, 2005; Page A01
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan --
"We are savage, cruel people," the kidnappers warned in a note sent to
Abdul Qader, demanding $15,000 to spare the life of his son Mohammed,
11.
The construction contractor quickly borrowed the money and left it at
the agreed spot.
But the next morning, a shopkeeper found the boy's bruised corpse
lying in a muddy street.
A wave of crime in this southern Afghan city -- including Mohammed's
killing two months ago and a bombing Thursday that killed at least
five people -- has evoked a growing local nostalgia for the Taliban
era of 1996 to 2001, when the extremist Islamic militia imposed law
and order by draconian means.
Residents reached their boiling point last week, after a second
kidnapped boy was killed.
Hundreds of men poured into the streets, demanding that President
Hamid Karzai fire the provincial governor and police chief.
Some threw rocks at military vehicles and chanted, "Down with the
warlords!"
Witnesses recalled some adding, "Bring back the Taliban!"
Both provincial officials are former militia leaders -- commonly
called warlords in Afghanistan -- whose fighters reportedly preyed on
residents before they were driven out by the Taliban.
They regained power, like a number of other current officials, by
joining the U.S.-led military forces that defeated the Taliban in late
2001.
In response to the protest, Karzai dispatched a top security aide to
Kandahar and promises were made to bolster the local police force with
reinforcements from the capital.
There were also reports that Karzai might transfer the police chief to
another province.
But residents are demanding more action by Karzai, who was elected in
October after making campaign pledges to remove the warlords from
power.
"We don't want any more promises on paper," said a landowner and
tribal leader who, like many residents, spoke on condition of
anonymity for fear of retaliation by the government.
"We want Mr. Karzai to keep his word."
The Kandaharis' complaints echo those of Afghans across the country.
Last Monday, demonstrators in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif
called for the resignation of Gen. Attah Mohammad, the strongman who
governs their province, complaining that he had stolen people's land.
Human Rights Watch, a U.S.-based advocacy group, charged last week
that numerous former warlords, who hold many provincial governorships
and top police jobs, "have been implicated in widespread rape of women
and children, murder, illegal detention, forced displacement, human
trafficking and forced marriage."
There are also allegations that some militia leaders and civilian
officials are involved in drug trafficking.
The rising discontent in Kandahar could prove particularly problematic
for Karzai, who was born here and has drawn much support from the
region's Pashtun ethnic group to which he belongs.
Many Kandaharis, once alienated by the harsh rule of the Taliban, say
their early support for Karzai is now giving way to a grudging
nostalgia for the Taliban era.
At that time, many said, a person could walk around the city carrying
quantities of cash and drive roads long after dark without fear.
Today holdups are common, few people venture out after sunset and many
are haunted by a sense of vulnerability.
Nazar Khan, who sells television sets in a bazaar, said that as a
teenager, he hated the Taliban for banning music and forcing him to
listen in secret to his favorite singers.
"But at least under the Taliban we had security," Khan said.
Because of the kidnappings, Khan now drives his four older children to
school and takes them to his stall afterward to keep a close watch on
them.
The 2-year-old stays with him all day.
"One moment I'm making a sale," he said.
"The next minute I'm turning around and wondering: Where did my son
go?"
There is much about Kandahar that underscores how far it has
progressed since the Taliban's ouster.
Bazaars are filled with merchandise, from photos to VCRs, that would
have been unthinkable during the Taliban era.
Picking through the wares are scores of women -- most of them veiled
because of tribal custom, but far more numerous than they would have
been in the days when the Taliban morals police prowled markets with
leather whips.
Above the streets, satellite dishes peek out from rooftops.
At the soccer stadium where the Taliban once staged public stonings of
alleged adulterers, painters prepare the grounds for a youth
tournament.
Still, residents say, the outward trappings mask entrenched problems,
from lack of jobs to street crime.
Many said they personally knew someone whose motorbike, car or other
property had been stolen, often at gunpoint.
Zahir Jan, 35, a stadium painter, said he longed to find a better job
but would be satisfied with the government if it weren't for the
kidnappings.
"Imagine how things are, that we are wishing for the Taliban again,"
he muttered.
Khalid Pashtoon, a spokesman for Gov. Gul Agha Shirzai, said reports
of kidnappings were greatly exaggerated.
In most cases, he said, children reported missing had merely wandered
off.
"Sometimes people in Kandahar get confused," Pashtoon said.
"They've been raised amid continuous fighting, and they have a very
pessimistic mindset. . . . But most of this is just rumor."
As for the street protest last week, Pashtoon said there were signs
that members of a Taliban splinter group were involved.
Khan Mohammed, the police chief, said that since he took office six
months ago, the number of robberies in Kandahar has dropped
dramatically.
"If before we had five to 10 robberies a week, now that's what we have
in a month," he said.
Mohammed said that apart from the two boys killed recently, the police
had received "no reports of kidnappings at all" and had made no
arrests.
But several residents said they personally knew of other children who
had been kidnapped for ransom.
Members of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission noted that
many kidnappings may not be reported to police.
The logbooks at Kandahar's independent radio station indicated that it
had received 10 to 15 requests per month to broadcast reports of
missing persons, most of them children.
But the station does not keep track of the circumstances of each
child's disappearance or whether they are found.
Whatever the facts may be, there is a widespread perception here that
children are frequently kidnapped.
Furthermore, some people suggested that instead of tracking down the
culprits, the police themselves may be involved.
Mohammed, the chief, categorically denied the accusation, and no
residents could provide hard evidence.
Instead, they pointed to suspicious circumstances.
Abdul Qader, for example, said a friend's young son had been kidnapped
several months ago and then released.
"Now, every time that boy sees men in uniform, he becomes afraid,"
Qader said.
"Why would he act that way unless some officials were involved?"
Then there was Qader's own experience with the police.
He did not report his son's disappearance, he said, because he
believed the police would not help him.
Instead, he broadcast appeals for information on television and radio.
After news of his son's death became public, Qader said, the governor
called him in for a meeting.
Qader said Shirzai promised to track down those responsible. Instead,
he said, national intelligence police arrested one of Qader's cousins
and two of his brothers.
Pashtoon said police had obtained evidence that one of the brothers,
who remained in custody, was a member of an organized crime gang from
Pakistan.
Qader said that the charges were baseless and that, after two weeks,
he finally persuaded the police to release his brother.
"The governor said he would help me, but instead he caused me even
more pain," Qader said.

 
Gli idioti esistono anche in Afghanistan :)
-Stefano

 ha scritto nel messaggio 
news:423B6B14...@people.it...


 li perņ gl'idioti non postano su internet come fai tu
...disse l'idiota.... :)
-Stefano