This narrative is a product of the Pak military establishment's 'strategic depth' policy, and was propagated internationally by former military dictator
Pervez PervMusharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
. Addressing the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
parliament in September 2006, he said the Taliban represent Pashtuns and they could spark a 'national war' in Afghanistan. Domestically, opinion makers say in TV talkshows that the Afghan Taliban are representatives of the Pashtun.
They say the Afghan Taliban have grassroots support in the south and southeast, and the movement is a reaction to the lack of Pashtun representation. But they also say the Afghan Taliban are a genuine resistance force fighting an ideological war against foreign invasion. The two views do not coincide.
The central leadership of all major turban factions is based in Pakistain, be it the Quetta Shura of Kandahari Taliban, the Haqqani Network in Wazoo, or the Hizb-e-Islami of Hekmatyar
They would never say Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistain represents all Pashtuns of FATA, or that the insurgency is a nationalist movement motivated by the grievances of the tribes. They call TTP a terrorist organization. And this is where the contradictory notion of good Taliban and bad Taliban comes into play. The Afghan Taliban are a resistance force representing Pashtuns, while their ideological brothers TTP, who also claim allegiance to Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title
Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
, are terrorists.
Ironically, those who claim that the Afghan Taliban are a Pashtun nationalist movement are not Pashtuns. Pashtun intellectuals and journalists, both liberal and conservative, and even Pashtuns who have been part of the military establishment, deny that.
The folklore of Taliban nostalgia prevailing in mainstream Pak media that Mullah Omar had brought peace to Afghanistan is also not shared by the Afghans. The Taliban killed thousands of people until there were no rivals and no one to resist their brutality, and there was rejoice in Kabul after their government was toppled in 2001.
Non-Pashtun ethnic politicians complain that Pashtuns hold most key ministries in President Karzai's administration
Afghans do not see the Taliban as a nationalist movement based on the Pashtunwali code, but influenced by Deobandi madrassas in Pakistain. They are not even a unified group. Not even all Afghan Taliban call themselves Pashtun nationalists. Although they are predominately Pashtun, many among them are from other ethnic groups, particularly in Northern Afghanistan. Local turban groups have multiple motivations. Some join the resistance against the perceived foreign invaders, while others fight for local purposes, such as clan rivalries and personal interests. Then there are those who fight for money.
Working on a research project in Northern Afghanistan in August last year, I met some Death Eaters who were not ethnic Pashtuns, but Turkmens. They told me they were paid $500 to $600 a month by a Taliban capo in Mazar-e-Sharif. That is more than what some of my colleagues were being paid by an NGO. Some of the Taliban men are opportunists who benefit from the narcotics industry and seek Taliban's shelter.
"Unlike the late 70s and 80s when Afghanistan experienced a national resistance movement against the Soviet occupation, the Taliban's claim for Jihad against Americans does not resonate with a majority of Pashtuns," according to Afghan political activist and former chief of staff at Foreign Ministry Wahid Munawar.
The central leadership of all major turban factions is based in Pakistain, be it the Quetta Shura of Kandahari Taliban, the Haqqani Network in Waziristan, or the Hizb-e-Islami of Hekmatyar. The commanding cadres of the movement have gone to madrassas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
, Southern
Punjab or Bloody Karachi...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
. Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
and the tribal areas are recruiting centers for Afghan Taliban. While traveling on the two borders, I regularly meet Taliban who are on their way to Quetta for rest, after a month or two of fighting in Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
or Uruzgan. Majority of the jacket wallahs in Afghanistan are traced to the tribal areas or Balochistan. What cultural or political grievances can they have about the Pahstuns of Afghanistan? The Taliban have destroyed the very foundations of centuries old Pashtun customs such as respect for tribal elders and the Jirga system.
"Taliban draw their support mostly from a tiny minority of Pashtun partly based on ideological grounds," says Rafi Fazil, an Afghan student and activist. "There is also an element of fear - given the vacuum created by the absence of government in Taliban controlled areas - that plays a key role. Not every Pashtun who sympathises with the Taliban actually subscribes to their violent ideology. Those who do, and are prepared to take part in violence, constitute a tiny minority."
If there are free elections, the Pashtuns of Afghanistan would reject the Taliban, like Pak Pashtuns vote for the liberal Awami National Party.
President Hamid
Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
received a large number of votes from the Pashtun south and southeast. The nationalist Afghan Mellat is a popular party among urban Pashtuns. There is no truth to the statement that Pashtuns lack representation in the current power structure in Afghanistan. In fact, non-Pashtun ethnic politicians complain of the opposite - that Pashtuns hold most key ministries in President Karzai's administration.
Abbas Daiyar is a journalist from Kabul and an op-ed contributor and member of editorial board at the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He blogs at kabulperspective.wordpress.com andtweets @AbasDaiyar