AFGHANISTAN: KABUL: TALIBAN FORCES CONTINUE TO GAIN GROUND

Описание: (1 Oct 1996) Farsi/Nat

Taliban forces continue to gain ground in northern Afghanistan, pushing back former government troops in an attempt to size control of the rest of the country.

Just days after capturing the capital, Kabul, the Taliban, a religious army of Muslim fundamentalists, is enforcing an ultra-strict brand of Islamic law in the newly-conquered city.

They have decreed that women stop working, closed down the television station and ordered bureaucrats and teachers to grow beards.

APTV reports from the Afghan capital where the new government is starting to rule with an iron grip.

The creation of Satan, according to these Taliban fighters.

What remains of a rock music cassette discovered in a house in Kabul just days after the religious army of Islamic students took control of the capital.

Their presence here is unmistakable.

Gangs of Taliban fighters cruise the streets, just the latest in a long list of the city's conquerors who have followed in the footsteps of Alexander the Great.

Yet in the past, there can hardly have been any as fanatical as Kabul's new masters.

Bred on ultra-extreme Islamic rhetoric, they are determined to enforce a brand of Islamic law so radical it allows no compromise, no moderation.

They are a highly-motivated movement - their objectives are clear and to the point.

SOUNDBITE: (Farsi)
"Our main aim is to establish (Sharia) Islamic law. That is the only thing and the best thing for the country. Nothing else matters. Once we have established it here then we will create an Islamic federation with other countries."
SUPER CAPTION: Voxpop, Taliban Masood

Quick to form an Islamic council since their takeover, the Taliban have already banned women from working.

Those who do not cover themselves from head to toe face severe punishment.

On Sunday two women were badly beaten in a Kabul bazaar - their crime: wearing garments that covered all but their eyes.

Across the city, schools remain closed as the curriculums are reviewed.

Male teachers as well as bureaucrats have been ordered to grow beards, and watching television has been banned.

So far, apart from Pakistan, the international community has failed to recognise the new government.

In Kabul, a sense of unease prevails, as Taliban fighters are reported to be advancing north towards the retreating forces of the deposed President Burhanuddin Rabbani.

The Taliban, who promise to cut off the hands of anyone caught thieving, have themselves looted cars and sized houses, forcing their inhabitants onto the streets.

Tens of thousands have fled the city, many of them from minority ethnic groups, traditional enemies of the majority Pushtuns who make up the Taliban movement.

Many more fear they will be persecuted should they stay.

One thing is for sure, with the former government forces on the run, the Taliban will be difficult to dislodge from Kabul.

And as the Taliban move north, they may soon control the entire country.

With the Taliban in control, Kabul has a last won a respite from the bombardments that pounded this city during the civil war since 1992.

30-thousand people have died and tens of thousands more have been injured.

And there seems little doubt that many here have welcomed an end to the fighting by factions in and around the city.

Meanwhile the United States is planning to send a diplomat to Afghanistan in the coming days to raise a series of issues with the new government, including the possibility of re-opening the U-S embassy.



Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...