Aasha Khosa

The Talibanis' day-long drill in Kabul on Tuesday to present itself as a group of “cool guys” who have learnt from their past mistakes ended with the new rulers in waiting of Afghanistan getting favourable press coverage in the West.

Yet governments across the world remain sceptical of their intentions and are not jumping into doing business with them with Canada outrightly rejecting even the idea of recognising the Taliban.

The social media was awash with images of the gun-wielding Taliban fighters throwing their charm around in Kabul. They were seen trying work out at the possibly abandoned gymnasium; taking rides in baby cars in an amusement park and even guarding a group of women holding placards, and their faces not covered, demanding their right to work and study with patience and smile. 

A Pakistani journalist made fun of ttheir day-long PR excercise by posting picture of a Talibani posing inside the Afghan parliament built by India: 

Judge, jury and executioner. pic.twitter.com/Q2J2xB48G9

— Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) August 16, 2021

Suhail Shaheen, the spokesperson of Taliban for English media, was patiently repeating to international news channels that nobody should fear them and they would protect the rights of women albeit under Shariah Islamic law.

On top of it, the group' spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid even held a presser in Kabul where he took rather hard questions from the Afghan journalists and impressed many representatives of the media. Tolo News, a great resource for the global media for authentic news on Afghanistan through its phase of tumult, announced its women news anchors went on air on Tuesday.

News Analysis

Tolo News also said the Taliban came for inspection of their premises. They okayed them and also took away all the weapons issued by the government for their security.

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For the Afghan watchers, the day-long PR exercise is worth only this much. The possible reasons for the Taliban to deliberately show themselves as good people is because Kabul is under watch by the global media whose representatives  are in the city and also the Diplomatic Corps.

Gory image of excesses

However, this exercise cannot obliterate the digital images of Comedian Khasa Zawan being slapped by his Taliban captors and soon his seven children becoming orphans in Kandahar just a few weeks ago. The killing of 15 Afghan special force personnel who had surrendered to the Taliban in cold blood at the same time, was another image that spoke of the ethos of the Taliban as it was a month ago.

Though Taliban claimed the video was fake, CNN’s Christian Amanpour confronted Suhail Shaheen on a live show on this. She told him that the video had been verified and was based on reality.

The Indians, in particular, will take time to forget the cold-blooded murder of Indian Journalist Danish Siddiqui in captivity in Kandahar, and mutilation of his body, about over a month ago.

However, the most profound reason for the apparent change in Taliban’s behaviour was given by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in his press conference.

Khasa Zawan's portait

Asked what the difference between the movement that was ousted 20 years ago and the Taliban of today, he said: “If the question is based on ideology, and beliefs, there is no difference... but if we calculate it based on experience, maturity, and insight, no doubt there is marked difference.” “The steps today will be positively different from the past steps.” 

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The changes in the world also might have forced the Taliban to give up on its barbarian ways and to evolve as a regular political force that cannot wish away what other countries and nationalities think of them.

Why the Change?

The Taliban had to change for the same reason Saudi Arabia is changing – the power of the internet and mobile telephony. The winds of change in the Arab world as regards the rights of women and interaction with the rest of the world are also initiated by the digital revolution. 

These brave women took to the streets in Kabul to protest against Taliban. They simplify asking for their rights, the right to work, the right for education and the right to political participation.The right to live in a safe society. I hope more women and men join them. pic.twitter.com/pK7OnF2wm2

— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) August 17, 2021

That reality has made the Taliban change from a Image-is-haram believers to a force where all the Taliban hold a camera and their leaders are on social media.

Lo and Behold, the Taliban spokesperson was even interviewed on Israeli television and he appeared to be calm and normal spoke normally a Jewish anchor.

The smartness with which the Taliban leaders are escaping the snares laid by Pakistan to project them as anti-India, is interesting. However, to be honest, even the earlier Taliban had not harmed India directly though we, like the rest of the world (barring Pakistan, UAE and Saudi Arab), had no diplomatic relation with them back then.

Despite initial fears in Kashmir where insurgency was going on, the Taliban never looked towards India as a possible destination for jihad in during their rule in Afghanistan in1996-2001,

Looking through the Kandahar hijacking of the Indian plane and releasing it for four Pakistani and one Kashmiri terrorist, was of no use to the group. They had helped Pakistan and no marks for guessing who was holding their apron strings back then.

Scepticism continues

However, on the Taliban-2 that the world watched on Monday, thinkers and analysts have their views. US scholar Michael Kugelman said the Taliban has gone into overdrive in its efforts to assure Afghans and the world that's there's nothing to fear about today's Taliban but its track record tells otherwise.

"It has never renounced violence, it has not moderated its draconian views on justice and women, and it is allied with international terrorists," he said.

Mohammed Soliman, Scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, also believes that the social and civil rights "arena is foggier." He said there are signs that the ground situation does not match the Taliban's promises.

The United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said on Monday that his organization was "receiving chilling reports of severe restrictions on human rights" throughout the country. "I am particularly concerned by accounts of mounting human rights violations against the women and girls of Afghanistan," he said at an emergency meeting of the Security Council.

The Taliban have miles to go before it can win the trust of the world!  

(Aasha Khosa is Editor, Awaz-the Voice, English)