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Kabul (AFP)
After spending 13 years as a Taliban fighter leading an insurgency, Rahimullah is now slowly adjusting to the relatively ordinary role of a policeman in the Afghan capital.
Like the rest of the Taliban, he struggles with a difficult transition from rebel fighter to civilian patroller, as extremists promise safety and build a new police force.
Residents of Kabul say street crime has declined, with widespread fear rooted in memories of the brutal Taliban regime in the 1990s, infamous for harsh punishments such as public stoning, lashes and amputations .
“It’s not a risky job,” said Rahimullah, who joined the Taliban as a teenager “for Islam and for my country”.
The 28-year-old from neighboring Wardak province, with his team of eight, is tasked with managing security in a central district of Kabul.
His job is to “catch thieves, murderers and wine drinkers,” he told AFP, who was authorized to accompany a patrol supervised by a senior Taliban official.
Some of his colleagues seem unsure of how to handle their new role in a city far from their previous lives in a much more conservative campaign.
“It’s not our favorite job, but it’s our responsibility,” admits the Taliban commander who oversees the patrol.
Instead of the jackets and pants once worn by officers, many Taliban forces wear traditional Afghan clothing, called shalwar kameez.
Some had new versions made from the blue and black camouflage material used in older Afghan uniforms.
In a police station in the 10th district of Kabul, the emblem of the old police is still visible, near the white and black banner of the Taliban.
The Taliban’s punishments have already been exposed in parts of Afghanistan – last week the bodies of four suspected kidnappers were hung from a crane in the town of Herat.
– Difficult transition –
The old police force, created by the international powers who drove out the Taliban in 2001, no longer exists.
It collapsed when the Taliban returned to power on August 15, as former police and officials fearing revenge and abuse went underground or fled the country.
The Taliban authorities are eager to keep their promise of strict law and order in the new Afghanistan, where the justice system under the US-backed government was plagued by corruption and inefficiency.
“There is an ongoing training program, and there will be professionals at all levels,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti, who invited former police officers to return.
The new force already has around 4,000 troops in the capital, Kabul police spokesman Afez Sirajuddin Omeri said, insisting the city is much safer than before.
“Under the previous government, 300 to 400 crimes were reported every day. Today, in total, they report about 15 a day,” Omeri said as he drove a dusty old Toyota Corolla through town, his car radio broadcasting religious songs.
These figures cannot be independently verified, but residents of Kabul generally agree that thefts and kidnappings, previously rampant, have eased.
With the end of the war between the collapsed Afghan security forces and the Taliban, the shelling – largely carried out by the insurgent group – has also declined dramatically.
For new police officers, however, it can be difficult to transition from a life of extreme violence to maintaining law and order.
But Yahya Mansoor, 25, on duty at a checkpoint in eastern Kabul, says he is not lacking in fighting and is keen to “serve the people”.
“We used to serve them by waging jihad,†he says. “Now we are rebuilding our country.”
© 2021 AFP
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