After 4 years in Afghanistan, the politics of the impossible from the Taliban

4 years have passed since the US, together with all the NATO components, left to get out of the Afghan quagmire. If we take 15 August as the base, we can subtract 9 days from that.

And if we call it a "quagmire," it is of course a quagmire for the occupiers. Otherwise Afghanistan is a paradise on earth for those who wish to come through the door, following the proper way and procedure; with its people, its climate, its nature, and all the blessings God has bestowed upon it. To the proposal made in the final exit negotiations, "at least let us leave soldiers at the embassy," one of the Taliban representatives answered as follows: "We will not allow you to keep even a pistol. As for protection, we are able to protect everyone who sets foot in this country; we will protect you too, we will hold you in the highest regard as guests, as long as you do not come by way of occupation, by way of usurpation. Every time you come this way, the only treatment you will see is that we will fight you down to our last soldier." Indeed, these days Afghanistan is releasing tourism promotion videos, in an extremely amiable and witty tone, inviting everyone who wishes to come by normal means to invest in the country and to visit.

Toward the 4th anniversary of Afghanistan's true liberation from enemy occupation, on a certain occasion, exactly a year and a half after our last visit, we are in Afghanistan again. We hope to find the opportunity to observe not only what has happened in the 4 years since the liberation (the Afghans call it the Conquest, of course), but also what has changed since our last visit, and how much progress has been made in the directions we observed in those days.

The first development to be noted is that Turkish Airlines has started its flights during this period. The THY plane, which flies to Kabul every day with a large aircraft, goes completely full. Previously, when we flew with Afghanistan's own KAM Air, which was then the only option, the plane was only about one third full. In Afghanistan, flights have both increased and the increased flights are struggling to meet passenger demand.

Of course, although there are Turks going to Afghanistan for trade, investment or tourism, most of the passengers are Afghans, along with some from Europe and other countries. From many European countries it is possible to reach Afghanistan only via Istanbul. For that reason Turkish Airlines gathers passengers from all over the world in Istanbul and carries them to Kabul.

Among the passengers there are those who have been away from their country for 20-30, even 40 years, and who will be going to Afghanistan for the first time in that period. Without making much comment on the Taliban administration, they emphasize that there is now stability and security in the country, and that for the first time the rulers have invited all Afghans to contribute to the country for development.

We also wrote this after our previous visit. In Afghanistan, in the last 50 years, every change of government has been bloody, vengeful, a settling of accounts with the old regime. For that reason every new administration has left behind huge waves of emigration. Yet for the first time, the Taliban's 2nd administration, remaining truly faithful to the amnesty it declared, has left behind all the old-regime settling of accounts, the chapters of revenge or confronting the past, in the country.

Actually, in a society like Afghanistan where blood feuds have a very strong cultural and traditional root, it is not easy to declare an amnesty either; and even if you declare it, implementing it is normally impossible. The Taliban administration has managed to achieve such a nearly impossible feat. Those who want to ask about the Taliban's strength and its power and influence in society need not look anywhere else.

In point of fact, in spite of all the negative perceptions stuck to the Taliban, it deserves very serious attention and appreciation for having been able to declare and implement this amnesty and for having realized a nearly impossible prospect of social peace. This is in reality a genuine success story that studies of social peace and crisis management should examine carefully and from which they should draw lessons.

For 4 years there has not been the slightest violation in this regard; moreover, members and leaders of the Taliban administration that took office who came out of prison meet every day, on the same avenues and the same streets, people who tortured them, oppressed them, perhaps even massacred them. When this amnesty was to be declared, some in the Taliban's upper leadership asked that certain exceptions be made regarding particular individuals and that they be punished specifically. The Emirate's imam, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, closed all the debate by saying there would be no exceptions at all, and what he said was accepted exactly as it was.

While the Taliban continues to attract the world's attention with sham image-making efforts, this situation has spread rapidly among the Afghan people, and hundreds of thousands of people from outside the country are setting out for their own country for the first time.

Actually, it is not only in this matter; the impossible road covered in the fight against narcotics is also a hard thing to believe. In a period when a country like Afghanistan, which has spent years in war, is confronting the material and financial problems of it at precisely this time, poppy cultivation could have constituted a serious economic resource. When we mentioned this situation in the articles we wrote after our previous visit and at the conferences we attended, we saw to our amazement that most people did not believe it. Many people were saying that the Taliban could never give up this money, that is, that it surely continues it under the table, or that actually nobody could give it up. Because it was unbelievable that the Taliban had accomplished the impossible.

Truly, the Taliban could have conducted this under the table and behaved in a way suited to this situation, which most of those who believed it were in any case attributing to it out of their ill suspicions. A gigantic economy. Probably the US and the members of the former regime relied on this economy. On this matter too, a two-sentence decree of Akhundzada resolved the issue at its root: "The cultivation, trade and use of poppy is forbidden."

It is forbidden because it is haram. A matter's being haram is sufficient reason to stay away from it. Whether it provides this or that vital benefit to the social economy is not even considered. For 4 years the cultivation of all plants that are a source of narcotics has been forbidden.

Saffron is now planted in the fields where these plants used to be grown, which is in fact a very valuable plant of Afghanistan. Although it does not exactly take the place of narcotics economically, it provides an income that is not bad.

Moreover, close to three million drug addicts have been identified in Afghanistan, and all these addicts have been registered and their treatment begun. We are told that the great majority have already been treated. They are not only treated; they are also given vocational courses in certain fields so that they acquire a profession. The performance shown in this regard is a performance that normal anti-narcotics programs in many parts of the world could never reach. This is again an area where the impossible was achieved in a short time.

Social life in Afghanistan is not a life with visibly rigid rules as is supposed. In one respect it might even be seen as more relaxed than necessary. We will continue to convey our impressions.