The students' movement is no longer just a rag-tag band
DESPITE having captured almost two-thirds of Afghanistan, not much is known about the strength of the Taliban. Initially, the number of armed Taliban was given at around 25,000 but that was in late 1994 when they had just emerged from their madrasas and captured some provinces, including Kan-dahar in south-west Afghanistan. Taliban leaders shrug off pointed questions about their numerical strength with vague answers like "innumerable and endless".
The movement라이브 바카라 founder, Mullah Moha-mmad Umar, reconstituted the ruling Shura recently and named the six most influential members of the Taliban라이브 바카라 hierarchy. The six were Mullah Mohammad Rabbani, former Kandahar Governor Mullah Mohammad Hasan, caretaker Foreign Minister Mullah Mohammad Ghous, Mullah Syed Ghayasuddin Agha who is a Tajik from Badakhshan and the only non-Pashtun in the council, Mullah Mohammad Fazil, who now runs Kabul, and Taliban military commander Mullah Abdur Razzaq.
Most Mullahs (literal meaning ‘those who give’—the ones who have graduated in Islamic learning) and older Taliban (‘those who seek’—still students) are veterans of the Afghan ‘jehad’ against the Soviet forces and the Afghan communist regime in Kabul. The majority of the Taliban returned to their madrasas when the Red Army left Afghanistan. Some stayed on to fight the communist regime of Dr Najibullah. It was the installation of the Mujahi-deen Islamic government in Kabul in April 1992 and the subsequent bloody struggle for power between warring Afghan armed groups that made the Taliban restless once again.
In the early days of their battles, the Taliban often fought at night. As their first military commander, Mullah Moha-mmad, explained to this correspondent in his only interview before he was killed, this led to fewer civilian casualties as most of them are indoors. It also enabled the hard-pressed defenders of towns and cities to escape. "We seldom chase our defeated opponents and nights are the best time to let them flee," he remarked. But how the Taliban supply and coordinate their huge military operations spread in 22 out of 32 provinces of Afghanistan is anybody라이브 바카라 guess. (Some neighbours say Pakistan gives logistic support).
Despite their considerable military force, the Taliban have yet to fight major battles. Most of their victories were achieved when their mujahideen rivals simply fled or surrendered. They took Kandahar with the minimum of fighting, and military analysts are yet to explain the fall of Herat and Kabul in view of the edge enjoyed by the Rabbani-Masood government forces in both manpower and resources.