POETRY of the TALIBAN Edited and introduced by Alex Strick van ot Felix Kuehn. Preface by Faisal Devjiolan Unive ee Pair Since 1098 Tnodcton nag © Ale Sek va Licht an Preface © Fatal Devi, 2012 Alaigi ered, Lika of Congres Cason in Pubcon Dass Poet of he Tan / wanted by Miwa Raby & Han Sass eed sd odes by Alex Sts van Lace & Fl eh spreice y Fatl esh. Incas ibogphialreirene and ines aN ore 0281 7404 § (ope) JSBN978.0231-80116- (ebook) 1 Pashto potry—200 cenary—Talasosin Rag, 2. ato pocey—2is censary”‘Traneon in Engh 3. ahan meer? ‘rings, Ps. Sei vn Liha Ae I Kah, eo, 1979 TL Ratna, Miwa IV. Son, Hani, Dv, Fl wrs9a1—aa3 2012009947 e ‘Columbia Univer Pret oak ate printed on permanent an dle st cpap Tha bok pte om apes wt eyed omen ‘rtd ot References to nent Wb sites (URLs) wee accra he tine of iting Nese he author nor Cla Unseny Fess epnle Fer URLs that may ave nied er changed ance he manu wae able’ Note “The Eds and Publisher have mae ery fo ent the Autos fhe oem publ in hcl, Me encore ‘vised atop of sy ofthe por we lb pled to cet he eer our net ping of he ole Contents ‘About the Transatrs, Editors and ‘Author ofthe Preface Acknowledgements Prefice by Faisal Dey Introduction ~ Ghazi Portas “The Poems Before September 11 Love & Pastoral Religious Discontent The Trench “The Human Cost Glosary of Names and Terms Notes Select Bibigzaphy 10 2» ” 79 85 105 137 7 as ar 3ABOUT THE TRANSLATORS Mireais Rabmany was born ip Roda diet of Nangathar prov ine in 1983. He learnt English from his father at an eal ag. Rehmany fled to Pakistan in the late 1980s on account of the Soviet invasion, He reared ¢o Kabul fllowing the mujaheden victory, but sted in Herat alter the cil war Broke out among “ariour jihad) groups, In 2001 he began his medial susie a Herat Univesty, fom which he graduate in 2008. During this ‘ime he also worked as an English teacher in Herat. Most recent, the has done Wook as a specialised legal wanslator. He coatiaues 0 live in Hert. Altal Hid Staniteai was born in Deh Bali, Kaisa province He lived there for Uree Yeats before moving to Kunduz prov ince, Evento, his patents moved permanently to Kabul He started schoo in 1979, and by 1989 eralled in Kabul’ Police “Academy, He started his ist offal job a3 computer operator in the Cartography Head Office in 2001, Fllowing that he began translating and writing and curently studying fora BBA a the Dunya Insitute of Higher Education and French atthe Lycée stele in Kabul. He ae tranlated a wie very of documents, from project mantals, electoral Inws and procedures, coves of ‘conduct and so forth, berween English, Pashto and Dat. [A graduate ofthe School of Oriental and Afican Studies (BA. Anbie and Persian), Alee Siick am Limcoten Best came £0 [Afghanistan six years go aa tourist. In 2006, together with Fl Kahn he founded AlghanWire, an online research and media ‘monitoring group to give a more prominent oie eo local Afghan ‘media, During this time he worked on 2 tanaation of the let ‘book of poems published by Nadia Anjuman before her death, Smeke-retned Flower. In spring 2010 be published My Life With the Taliban, of which he was-a creditor, to critical acai, In aly 2012 he published 4x Bremy We Cheated, a history of the tehationship berseen the Afghan Talban and al-Qaeda, together ‘with Fei Kuehn. He i curren workag on a book and PRD the War Staies Department of Kings College London on the identey of the Afghan Taliban movement 1978-2001. He has worked 33 fcclance journal in Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon and Somalia, writing for Foreign Pali, Imcrnational Afi, ‘ABC Nyheter The Sunday Timer, Glbe tnd Mail and The Table He epcaks Arabi, Fars Past and German and can get by it French and Dutch Flix Kuehn fee taveled to Afghanistan some 8ve yeas ag0, braving spent several yeas inthe Middle Eat including a short twelve months in Yemen, where he fist learn Arabic in 2002 In 2006, together with Alex Strick van Linschoren he founded AghaaWire n online research and media monitor group to [sve 8 more prominent voice to local Afghan media. In spring 20L0 he published My Life With the Taliban, for which be was ‘hcorditor, to cata! aclai. In eatiy 2012 he published ‘Enemy We Created a history of the relationship between the [Afghan Taliban and al-Queda, together with Alex Strick van Linschoten, Felix hols a degree from the School of Oxiental and [African Stodies (BA Arabic and Development Studies), ABOUT FAISAL DEVIL Fail Devi is University Reade in Modern South Asan History 3t St Antony's College, Unvesty of Oxford, He has held faculty poskione a the New School in New York, Yale Univesity and the Univenty of Chicago, ftom where he also received his PD in Ineletul History. Deve was Junior Fellow at the Society of Fellows, Harvard Unites, and Head of Graduate Studies atthe Insite of Ismail Studies in London, ftom where he directed postgraduate courses in the Near Eaxt and Cental Ala He ‘St on the editorial board ofthe journal Pubic Culure. Dex inthe author of three books, Landiape ofthe bad: Mizaney, ‘Moral, Modernity (Hurst, 2008), Te Terris in Search of ‘Human Militant Ila ard Global Paes (Hirst, 2009) and ‘The imposible Indi: Gandhi and the Tempeaton of Vsence (Hurst, 2012) and is crcently writing » book onthe emergence ‘of Muslim polities andthe founding of Paisan. He isinterested tn the polit thought of moder Im a well kin the tans formation of liber categories and democratic practice in South ‘Asia. Devi’ broader concerns ate with eis and vilence in 2 ‘lobalised world, particularly with the thought and practices of| Mahatma Gandhi, who was among the eatest and perhaps the ‘most perepve commentator on this predicament of our Hes.This book began its ie aa hobby and, a sch, we Hinkered with the poems for sever years before considering whether o compile ‘hem for puldiation. In ding so we were fortunate enough to make the aqusintnce of many Afghans and non-Afghans Who Alecpened “our understanding of the Than movement and Afghaniatan ele ‘A the Cop of thi ist ate ends in an rom Jey Kandahar. The sensitive ofthis project means iti inadvisable ro is names, We hope you know who you are, and that we would not be able todo ‘ou workin southers Afghanistan without yo. Most poems were anally tinted for the AfghanWire vate and mea monitring service, We were asst by four cellent ansatos at thar ame, and we thank them fr thei hard Work At later stage, M. M. helped yather most ofthe pre 2001 poems for us; this included large numbers of wanseripoas rom "apes, and we thank him Fr is work ‘We had usc convertions around the edges of this project with various speci, all of whom helped usin various ways (Orzala Ashraf, Erin Cunningham, Huma Imax, Tom Johnson, Daniel Kinsmage, Thomas Hegghamner, Joanna Nathin, Michael Semple, osha White an Aston Zein, ‘Staffa Hurse were alvaye welcoming and hpi Tanks to Jon de ever Dany Lich, Ro Pinney ant Radha Seats. Tasks ls, to Fatima Jamadar for yet another perfected book cover Robert Caron went above and Beyond in ofring comments, suggestions and interventions that helped improve de fl man ‘erp. The final prot mach beter fr fis age adic. ‘Many thanks to both Fail Deyj and Michael Duyer for dicontons about the poems thems, the format ofthe book, tnd the substance of itroductory pages. Both were extremly patient wth the very ate delivery ofthis mance, Alec Swick van Linshiton add 1 would alo like £0 take the ‘opportmity to thank some of my shelter rom sone years buck, without whom I most likely would neve have worked on 2 book like this. Al taughe me the value of coseeading a he appreciation that ~in att there ie more tole than the prey politeal ‘Thank you Lacy Recker, David Rownnan, Anrew (Caner, Nargucs Faread, Rachel Fletcher and Bil Leary. Preface Faiet Devi [At your Christmas, Bagram i alit and bright: (On my Bi even the rays of the sun are dead ‘Suddenly at midnight, your bombs bring he lights Thor houses, even the ol lamps are tured of Kapa, Ov Eid ‘The contrast drawn in the lines above ecween Americans Celebrating Chrisunas in the Bagram Ar Base and Afghans Commemorating the Malin fetal of Eid out 0 imple at tobe unanswerable, However slanted i might oxherie be, this Irie description represents ruth beyond the polities of good intentions that characterises the interational eommuniy's actions im Afghanistan, Uliatly es Uklyto be sch desepions that ome to define the war in that county, and aot the complicated frguments of those wo would rescue from the depeedaions of AAFQaed ort Taliban, Now that coalition forces are preparing fo withdraw from Afghanistan without achieving any” of ther ‘oa, such arguments ate about to fl silent in any cs and a ew society will have tobe bul from the Kind of consciousness that ison display in this and oter poems that may be si 10 ‘onstizte dhe iterate ofthe Taliban, Tris no exaggeration to sy that in the eversinreasing achive ofstndis om the Taliban only a minuscule number have aeended to the movement's aesthetic dimension, inciading the work of James Caron and Michael Semple. For whether scholars and Indeed experts of al Kinds view then as being prot ether fof some Wester modernity in the form of the US backed joa ‘gait the Soviet, for example, or on the contrary ofan Mimic tradition, the Taliban are invariably defined in teems of tba ‘egulation and eligios law: But however important such uri tel politcal fctore have been in the making oftheir movement, Surely it the human element, represented in what ens OUE (© tbe prolife culture of venation, tat goes some way towardsaccounting for the Talban’s selconscousnes, to sy nothing about thet reslence and appeal. Fortis body of vere i part of 2 greater world of poetic production in which Afghans belonging te every shade of politcal opinion paripate "Even when the large store of poetry produced by the Taliban or hei supporters has ben atied, whichis more often than not bby American military analysts tobe seen merely a prope ganda and thus folded back into the instrumentality of pols Yer i might well be the autonomy ofthis aesthetic rather is general and broadly human character, that lnk the Taliban to a ‘wider woeld outside their ehnie and doctrinal limits. And such + link, ofcourse, sa capable of citing the movement's integrity as of reinforcing it So apart Hom engaging with a subject that ‘nas received ean attention un ow, ths Bok sremarkable for attending tothe expansive and therefore chy ambiguous nature (OF Taliban verse. And thie hardly surprising given the linguistic and historical simaion of the Pashto language, which has fOr Centuries now been n'a state of constant engagement with the literary traditions of languages ike Persian and Ura that ink the Pascua to lean oa the one and and India on the other "Now the Taliban ae known not oly in the West, but in mach ‘ofthe Muslin world, oo, fr thei sit coneeratism ater tha for any delicate fecings of humanity, yet the poetry asocited ‘ith them is replete with sich ne emotions. Drawing upon the long tradition of Persian or Urdu verse as smc as Afpian legend and recent history, it an asthe form tht incades unrequited love, powerfl women for whore ili fivouts competitors vie, and descripons of natural beauty among it themes, a the following ‘uatrainsfeom 3 poetess withthe pen mame Nast (Vicony) ilk My compestor eu my hearts “Tears seamed from my eyes (0 relent one, your heats harder than stone; weep foe you and you laugh a me. ‘We love these dusy and muddy houses; Wie love the dusty deserts of hi country: Bur the enemy has stolen the ight, We love these wounded bck mountain, Indeed 2 common claim in this poetry is thatthe simple humanity of ral Afghans, nourished by the loveliness of thee ‘mountains, meadows and steams, is under atack by coalition forces with their drones, air sikes and heal armed soldiers. ‘This is ofcourse trary trope, whose distance fom realty does not, however, mean that Taliban poets and their audiences have ‘ho genuine fling for such things as natural beauty. Indeed the Contrary is probably true, with the Taban's aesthetic doing at ‘much to heighten an Afghan’s appreciation of ower, birds and the lindape aso turning him against American troops. But the ‘concern ths trate for humanity smote complex, with some ‘writers sorowflly acknowledging Is loss among the Afghans themselves, a in the following lines from a poem by Samillah Khalid Saha ented Humantty. Everything has gone from the wold, The world has become empty agi ‘Human animal ‘Humanity animal, ‘Everything has gone from the word, T doa’ see anything now. ‘All that Lace ‘My imagination. ‘They don’ accept ws a5 humans, They don’ accept 38 animals ether ‘And, a they would say, Hiumans have two dimensions Humanity and animal, We are out of both of tem today. We ae not animals, 1 say this wih eran. But, Humanity has been forgotten by ws, ‘And I don’t kxow when twill come Back. ‘May Alla give i. us, And decorate us with this jelly. ‘The jewelry of humanity, For now it only in ou imagination,If their pastoral yl strikes us as being so familia as to be almost universal, he sme hol tue forthe Talban's aesthetic ‘more generally, which eschews any ofthe faros that otherwise “stingush the moverent, whether it be religious resvitons, sanguinary punishment or the sippresion of women. Neither ‘Mullah MoSsmmad Omar, moreover, nr the regime he led in Afganisan before 9/11, receives mach mention inthis poetic ‘ormucopia, though there ae references 10 a longed for revolu tion and the enablshment of an Islamic moral order But why Should the Talba’'ssesthetic be so removed ffom the opinions Sind practices that define them both relgioualy and poiicly? To {ccount for sucha division by invoking ideas about hypocrisy or propaganda x unstixacory, because tei very possiblity would fave made Taliban verse contoveril and perhaps even impor sible Instead of which both dravs upon and fads acceptance within poetic tradion tat inks the movementto sword ouside its own. The Taliban's serheie at T have aleeady suggested, is ‘marked by a consciousness external to ther movement, one that, ‘moves beyond the limits of ideology to make fora thoroughly Individual sense of edo which ean manifest teln obedience semuch ar defiance, deity t a ease as much sts bewayal INSIDE, OUTSIDE AND IN BETWEEN From is origins in the Soviet invasion of 1979, che war chat ‘continues to wreck Afghanistan has also given rise to an exta0r- inary aesthetic consciousness. By weaving it ino carpe, phorogrphing iin wert dio and commemorating Wn song nd veri distributed by way of CDs and cell phones, Afghans ‘cross the politcal spectrum have struggled to humane 3 long tnd destrvtve war in an elle that Bears compaizon to the ‘altar! productivity of the Fit World War in Europe. Poets, ‘which was probably the mos important aesthetic medium of tad tional Afghan society, har played erucial ole in eis eot, and the Talan verse coleted inthis volume represents the melan ‘holy beauty ofthe od car well asthe meal outrage and cll to aition that is charscterte of modern Iterstre. Unlike the ‘inabashed propaganda that characteris the ofl audio CDs tnd other products of the Cultural Committee ofthe Islamic niente thi material by individual members or sympathies ofthe Taliban s nor only more spontaneous in nature, But aso ‘serves to lnk the movement with a much ger world of esthetic experienc and lneary reference ouside ‘While i he earana or ballad that seems to be the forte genre of the Cultural Commitee’ propaganda, a peimarly orl form of iterate tha has sb recived mort attention from those who seady the Taliban, ic appears to be the gnca or love ic ‘hose themes fn alway form dominate the movements uno ficial literature. Made up of inerinked couplets that do not have to possess any consauty of marae or even mood, the gals by far the most popular genre of poetry in the region, which can [best and ected, but alo dominates the writen Ueratre that vas previously composed primary by coure poets and mystic Indeed the traditional clement in the Talla’ aesthetic derives precisely from mscal and courdy or profane works that might fot otherwise meet with the movement's approval, Ambiguity lies at che heart ofthis cal tradition, in which emodions, ideas and words ofefrence can change radial rom one couplet t0 another in the same poem, and whose stock characters include ‘despondent lovers crel and beau mistescs and great dal ‘of wine. And ii because wc lovers may also be dented with seekers after divine union of courtiers pledged to ther prince, such mistreses with God, Kings or een besusfel young men: fand such wine with spirtual as much 2s material inoxtation, that this poetic eradiion iso ambiguous. Indeed the ries ofthe genre require the gna! tobe read at a6 many different levels 3s posible. The combination of such level is lea in the folowing Couples from a plaza! called “Injured” by a poet with che pen ‘ame Khalewa (Well-wisher): 1 stoned bm with the tones of tight ters “Then I hang my soerow on the allows ike Mansour Like those who have been killed by the ini T counted my hear a one ofthe mars. Ie might have been the wine of your memory That made my hear drunk ive tes. ‘While the pre's ambiguity may have allowed i to escape the serctres ofthe devout i the past it auo pemited the profine imagery ofwine, women and song tobe inserted inc the guage ‘of devotion ier But to describe this at reprewed oF vesiosenjoyment of immoral practices i to miss the poi, since what 1 think is mot important sbour this situation isthe exablihment of feedom ae a internal quality. The limitations ofthe extemal ‘worl in other words are matched by the creation ofa liber: ‘Jed consciousness one that can uphold the moral order wile fr ihe same time being detached from i. Rather than separating the profane world from the sacred, then the aesthetic tradition ff which the Talba's pocty isa pare joins them together while viding the individuals conscousnes. Looking at the moral ‘tder ftom outside its own demesne, the individual presupposed by this aesthetic can both uphold and escape i, which also means thathe enor be confined within the precincts of any ideology. “The divided consciousness ofthis aesthetic subject asin the past been deserbed almost exclusively in terms of mysticism, thith the outer world’s prohibited pleasures coming to repre: ent the moral orders inner truth. So Islam's masculine God an i thie literary tradition be portrayed asa woman of easy rtuesand figure like Mansour al-Hall, who was executed for hetesy in medieval Baghdad praised a 2 martyr to love. Such 2 mystical interpretation ofthe lyrics aesthetics, for instance, perfectly appropriate where the poetry of a Shia thinker like the Ayatollah Khomeini x concerned. But given the Taliban's profesed distaste of such an overtly esoteric approach, their tee ofits aesthetic sggest that thas become an autonomous tnd highly flexible mode of consciousness, one chat is capable ‘of transforming all outward forms into their opposites in the realm ofinner pleasures, Thus the vil that is officalydesribed 1. garment representing women's modest and virtue comes, in this poetic tradition to stand for coquetry and sexual dese. “This is how the inner value ofall things is determined by the converse of thee outer meaning “Ofcourse the Taliban wete not he fit todsocte the double onscionnes of traional aesthetics fom the practice of mys ism, Tha peinege belongs to the nationalists and Mass ofthe tenseth century, who would often identify the Ic's beloved bth the sate or revolution they longed to lad. Bur deployed by these secular ideologies, the ghazal’ themes tended to lon their transgressive appeal and become Bland symbols. And though the “Talansreligious character saves thie poetry om such impover ishment, tio less maxdrn than the erature othe commas tn noni, Forts probably fom these latter groups that the non tational clement of the Taliban's aesthetic derive, Including a they do rousing alto acon and astute analyses of ‘industrial society that give thei to any notion ofthe movement’ folkish character. Here, fr example, are some lines from a poem calle “London Lie by Seed: “There are clouds and rsin but ie doesn’t have any characters Life bas ite joy or happiness hee. Is bazar and shops are fl of goods, ‘These kinds of foods don't have ale: Life here isso much losin individuals that, Brother to brother and ther to son, there no affection, ‘Their knowledge i 0 great tha they dil fo olin the depths ofthe oceans, Bus even this nowledge doesn’t give them a good ‘epuation. 1 see thee many faults and ites with my own eyes; but ‘what can Ty? (0 Sateed, my heare doesn't have the patience to bear this Far from being a remote place untouched un recently by the contemporary wort, Afghanistan asthe ech would have ‘hasbeen athe crssoad of history for many centre, and the Pasuns who poplte the unk Of he Taba se stony the mont mobile of ts cizens. "They conse, in fcr, one of the great tading and service communities ofthe #e3ion, ‘ablshed in large numbers all ovr India fom medical times Snd et far afeld ts South Alta since the nineteenth century. ‘Today the member ofthis coumopolitan population may be found berween Moscow and London in Buropey allover North ‘America and tn the gret mig ces ofthe Peran Gal Infact ii even possible co sy that such realty as pertains 0 the tial and rural image ofthe Pashuns wa fostered during the ninercenthcentry, by the British policy of contig fo much of ter homeland int 2 act of protected Jurud thos a pat ofthe Great Gun, in which Afghanistan Became & bufier sate beeen ih nda and ipetal or aes Set, Asia The atrange intimacy that exe between the Taliban's emote homeland onthe one hand and tc heat of gab po tes onthe other made evident inthis poem by aan called "Pamir that bring together the slentbeauy of thie moun tsinou gion with he camoue of «very modern war1 know the black, black mountains know the deer and its problems My homes the mountain, my village isthe mountain and I lve in the mountains, 1 know the black ditches. 1 aways cary a rocket launcher on my shoulder; know the ho renches, 1 alye ambush the enemys "know war, confit and disputes, 1 wil el the trth even f Lam hung on the gallows; know the gallows and hanging | don't care about Being hota cld; know al Kinds of trouble, 1 am the eagle of Spin Gh’ igh peaks, know Pam's canyons 1 walkthrough i day and night know the bends of Tor Ghar Bangles at oyfl on the gis hands; know swords “Those who make strife for religion; Faizani, 1am familiar with such young men. LESSONS FROM HISTORY ‘Whats remarkable about the poetry represented inthis volume it the deeply historic consciousness extubits, Rather than sing the war in Afghanistan at one example of an endless coaflet between Isr and its enemies, however, whichis how much of the iterstre associated with Al-Qaeda describe this body of Imateral posscwer a fir more nuanced appreciation ofthe past References the struggles of bilial prophets against ancient ‘yrants abound, whether itis Moses and Pharaoh or Abrahams and Nimrod, and Maharnmad’s bates with those among his own tebe who wanted to des him, ar ao mentioned. While sack Felgioe figures have always played an important role in ad ‘onal poetry, they often appear in very diferent light in Taliban ‘ere. Mahammad, formance, was net seen a Warsior i the ‘old aenttc, and figures like Abraham, Mores or Joseph were ‘more often known fr thee dreams, miracles and, in the case of the ast, beauty, han for any struggle against eran The Taliban poets, in other words, fe very likely drawing upon the modern perspectivson thes laminates that were pioneered by nationalist nd socialist writers in the twentieth century. But ofcourse more traditional views continue survive in thelr vere, whichis thue 3 ‘complex form detached from any purely ideological consciousness, 2s lasted in dese lines on Joseph's enchantment of Potiphat= ‘wife aswell as on Abrahams love, by a writer with the pen ae “Majbur(Feples) from the poem “Abraham's love" Not only Zeikha wanted him, but ‘Worlds were astonished by Joseph's charm When he pase from the word, ‘The sky and earth were atonised by my beloved However mach Nimrod tried to tow him o the fre, ‘Buty the love of Abeaham the fires were astonished The wisiom of foreigners were shocked by his love, “Majbur! Words ae artonished by your inagination, Far more important in Taliban poetry than such religious eminence, however, ate the military herce of the Afghan past ten like the great medieval congueroe Mahmad of Ghani the tighteenth-entary empire builder Ahmad Shah Dutani and the uneteenthcentury tba leaders Akbar and Ayub Khan, who fought against the Bash during the Anglo Afghan Wart A striking absence from ths ists Alexander the Gres, a requenty mentioned hero inthe poet tradition, and one who fad acts ally campaigned in what stay Afghanistan. Pethps Alexanders foreign origins now disqualify him from Taliban rate though Iimeestingly he i simply let out ofthe drama personas in thet semthetic and not viewed sean alien invader ite Genghis Khan, nother great conqueror ftom the diant past. The patrocc ‘ature of this terature might ao explain the importance int of {wo women, the sevententh-century poetes and warrior queen [Nazo, and Malas, who fought agains the Bric a the Batle ‘of Maivand in 1880. Both women are Afghan folk heroines, and have been uded inthe pas by the nationals and communists who provide so much ofthe Taliban's aesthetic with its ocgins Needless to sy, the behaviour ofthese courageous women, even as described by Talban writers, departs in asking fishion from ‘hat offically expected oftheir Afghan descendants bythe movesent, And the recent hitory of Ahan struggles against Soviet fr American invasion has produced no more heroines ofthis ind, though the bravery and fosude of unnamed women Who yp) the county’ indomitable spit continues being peed in the Taliban's poetry. There do however exit pocteses among the ‘Taltan who take on the penonse of Nazo and Mala s Nasat does in the Isc ented “Give me your turban, which begins ‘withthe couplet ‘Give me your turban and eake my vel, ‘Give me the sor 0 that the matter wl be dealt wih Seen to date fom the an-Sovet jad of the 1980s, today's war in Afghanistan ands front and centze i Talban verse. Yet its importance ple in comparson withthe Anglo-Aighan Wars, which are scen asthe truest tet of Afghan endurance and the forest proof of tee vcory. Unlike the globalised rhetoric of ‘hose associated with Al-Qaeda, it isnot the defeat ofa superpow like the Soves Union that becomes the chief example of Muslin Iheoiam here, though tht is by no means ignored, bu instead 2 ‘colonial war ofthe nineteenth century that hastily regional ‘Sgnicance. Apart fom demonstrating the paviotc rather than Planetary dimension ofthe Taliban's serge, therefore, the cole Played by che Anglo: Afghan Wars this ierarare makes of he Bish an enemy to obdurte a to reduce both Rusians and American int the pals oftheir imitators. Soi Britain could be ‘anguished, the resting goes, neither Russa noe America ever had mach chance of victory. Enza in this story of course, is the vew that the Brieh in our own time are of no consequence, fr the Taliban authors do.not make the mistake of confusing thei imperil glory daring the Raj with today’s pois, in which the United Kingdom i een merely a an adjunct of the United Stes, Nevertheless, eis not encommon i thi erature forall Westeiners to be ered toa Engen, thas demonstrating the great hold that colonial narratives sill havein the region [If Mullah Mobarnmad| Ome andthe Taliban cegme he leads ind lie mention in the movement's Iterator, nether do Osama bin Laden and Al-Queds sy nothing of che Arab and other foreign fighters who made Afghanistan thet home. And though alban verse owes something tothe potty and song asocated with globalised Islamic militancy, as een, for instance, in the description of coalition forces as Crasaders, or in references t9 ‘Mastim suffering the world over i overwhelmingly Afghan in serps, and dapenses with the desersenes, tents charging horses and other themes popular with such miltats. Abo absent ‘Eom this conpas of verses the purely religious element, with prayer, pilgrimage or cven sara a scen as beng prt ofa broader futur landscape and in any case linked to Afghanistan in pari ‘lar Here, fr instance, isthe loving description ofa dsteoyed ‘mosque, it congregation and muczzin by Khalid Haida in a oem withthe tile Traveller Friend” You would not ask me what happened tothe small, ‘congregation: “The prey and doy mosave, “The ane the mide ofthe village, The prety mosque without a door “And “The tender Talib Jan ‘The one with long bai, ‘The young Talib Jam ‘Who used to cleanse heres with his voice when he cle the While there are numerous references inthe body of Talla poetry not only to foreign counties lke Botan, America, Israel fr Rusia, but also to particular sites like the White House and ‘he pagon of Guantinamo Bay in Cubs, Afghanistan dominates the whole, Even influential neighbouring counties like Irn and Pakian play He part inthe poet's imagination, being viewed with suspicion forthe mos part or seen as paces of iter eile. ‘Afghanitan i, oweve, resolutely Pusu land for the Taliban poet, with the country’s other ethnicses receiving. cunsory Acknowledgement even as their literary waditions and the cosmo poltan world of Pesan most ofl are on fll diply in hit orher vere, Yer the fundamental ambiguity and double conscious- ‘ess ofthis enteric makes fra remarkably diverse set of vices in Taliban poetry capable of expressing evrything from bloody ‘engeance and the thll of bate co a deste for non-violence fo complete that Mohammad Hanif, with the pen ame Hairan {Amnzed) sks God to forbid violence altogether in 3 poem ted “Oh God! These People!™ Ena crucy so that ‘An ant woa' die by someone's hand No teaver wil be biten by someone eles dog, And nobody's dog will be kled by someone else's hand How ate the Americans nd thir ales sen in thi iteratre? -Aswe know they represen only the mos recent of many invaders, {6F whom the British in the nineteenth century take pride of place. Bot this enemy also changes shape a great deal, sometimes Seseribed as a dragon from ancient lore and sometimes asa guest ‘who ends up occupying one's home. Here, for example, ate Some lines from Najibllh Akram’ Poe: small house 1 had fom fer and grander, In which I knew happiness, ‘My beloved and T would lve there They were great beasteous tess ‘We would sree ourselves foreach other Bur suddenly a guest eames Tet him be fortwo days But afer these wo days pased, “The gust became the hos. He told me, You came today. Be carefil aot to eur tomorrow Whatever form he tkes, the enemy i always crud, and his Immente power ony shows up this inhuman crucy, 3 inthe following description ofs very real and even commonplace inc dent, the mistaken air strike (possibly by 2 drone) on 4 wedding pry. Complete wih an ironic reference to the human rights that Coton forces are meant to be defending in Afphanisan, he 2 oem is anonymous and ensed “The Young Bride war Killed Here "The young bride was killed here, “The groom and his wishes were martyred here. ‘The hearts fll of hopes were looted here, Nott those to but the whole group is mated "The children were murdered, “The story fl oflveis martyred here. "All thes human rights were hur, The lover was martyred, the beloved is martyred. ‘The flends who were escorting them; Alo, what beau youths are marred “The bride is drenched in ed blood, Heer jewellery is broken and marred, Her hands are red wit her Bloods Storms came upon her beautifl I But the news brings pres releases from Bagram, ‘Saying that we have klled the terrorists" How can we know the happiness ofa wedding? ‘We have killed many Afghans today. ‘This sa threat to our crusade, “That's why we ile those child” “They give the fighter’ name tothe bode, Thy sy that we only killed our enemies. “The president has appointed a commission once apn “Go and se who they have lle” “Their packets are filed not to sy & word, Because they have ill our relatives, As ifthe Red Fores came on their otses, Just as important as the foreign enemy, however, is the ‘countryman who colaborites with him, and whose betsyal of ‘Afghansan serves a6 a gn of the occupation's vast powers of ‘corruption. And it ein desrbing thi facet of the war thatthe ‘Taliban poet adopts a comic or bittery satirical tone, condemning in parcular the creation o il-gozen wealth amid overwhelming poverty, while deserbing the new society it produces with some ae. Here for example poem by MatllahSuachaval called “How Many ae the NGOs! Anyone who has worked in Kabul, ‘or for that matter in other pose-confict zones, wil recognise the