Taliban refresh their stamp on Afghan justice

KABUL - The Taliban in Afghanistan appears to have expanded its judicial writ once again after a gap of eleven years.

According to the New York Times, the insurgents are gradually reinstating much of the same brand of justice they were notorious for when they ruled Afghanistan in the mid-1990s - swift, brutal and intimidating enough to ensure obedience and order - with the help in a few places of substantial prisons.

Take the example of a young Afghan aid worker named Attiqullah.

When NATO forces raided the Taliban prison where he was being held in mid-August, he told them that Taliban jailers had informed him that he would be put on trial on a Friday, and on the same day itself, he would be told whether he would sentenced to death or a part of his body would be cut off.

His crime? Working with an American-based non-profit group that aided farmers in the southern Afghan town of Marja, in Helmand Province, where Marines have been battling to assert control and win over local people since February.

According to the NYT, it is a well-known fact that the government’s judicial system is frequently slow and corrupt.

It also known that working for a foreign aid group entails special risks.

The Taliban sees foreign aid workers and the Afghans who work with them as little better than spies, and Attiqullah’s treatment reflected how seriously the Taliban viewed the offense.

Elders familiar with Taliban justice in Musa Qala, in Helmand Province said: “Taliban are very harsh to those who have been convicted of spying and those who have an affiliation with the government and the foreigners.”

He added: “People convicted of such crimes can be beaten up severely. One man, he said, was given 500 lashes a day for several days.” (ANI)