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American Morning

Target: Terrorism - Inside The Taliban

Aired October 01, 2001 - 11:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The Taliban have been in power in Afghanistan for about five years now, but until recent days, most Americans paid very little attention to the Taliban, their radical form of Islam, and their strict control of society.

Journalist Ahmed Rashid, though, has not. He has written extensively about the country. His book is called, "Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil And Fundamentalism In Central Asia."

Ahmed Rashid joins us live in Islamabad. Sir, as we continue as Americans to learn more and more, and educate ourselves even greater here; one point you consistently make is how tightly guarded this group is, almost to the sense of paranoia.

Give us an understanding for why that paranoia does exist among the Taliban leaders.

AHMED RASHID, AUTHOR, "TALIBAN": Well, initially, I mean, publicly they -- they say that Islam does not allow photography or television, and they enacted very strict measures against any kind of publicity about their own leaders and about themselves.

But also, they come basically from religious schools in refugee camps during the 1980s, they were educated there. They were very unsure of themselves. They were very unsure of their victories that they made in the early years, in the mid 90s. They didn't have a political philosophy, they had a religious philosophy, but not a political philosophy nor a political agenda. Until '96 when they took Kabul, they didn't even say that they wanted to seize power in the whole country; they said they would let their tribal elders rule the country.

So these are -- this is a group which, initially at least, was very unsure of themselves.

HEMMER: Give us an understanding too, sir, if you could, as to why Afghanistan was so ripe -- you mentioned the year 1996 -- why it was so ripe for the Taliban to take control?

RASHID: Well, there was a brutal civil war from 1992 after the fall of the Afghan Communist government, a brutal civil war involving many factions; and then you had the creation of multiple war lordism, especially in the southern part of country where the Taliban emerged. Nobody wants now to go back to that position. The fear is that if this new government in Rome is not formed quickly -- a broad alliance is not formed quickly, which could possibly take power after the Taliban collapse; many people are fearing that we may go back to the situation in which the Taliban emerge. That there was civil war, there was war lordism, there was rape, mayhem, looting, roads were closed, people were starving. Nobody wants a repeat of this any more.

HEMMER: Sir, as you study this group in that country, do you see, for lack of a better phrase, a next generation of leaders, the younger people there? Are they as hardcore as their elders, or do you note a difference in attitude at all?

RASHID: The Taliban constituted one of the narrowest base governments that Afghanistan has ever known. They never reached out to anyone, the ethnic minorities, even the real religious scholars, businessmen, traders, politicians. They wanted nobody to join them who did not subscribe to their ideology.

There are thousands of Afghans, both outside and inside the country, who have taken no part in the politics over the past 10 years, and who would certainly form a new generation of leaders. It will be difficult getting this new generation out and encouraging them to join the political process, but many of them are tribunal elders, they have large followings amongst their tribes and clans, around the countryside. And it's going to be very important that the king and the other formulators of this broad alliance are able to get this generation out.

They're certainly there.

HEMMER: As we take that same comment a step further here, you believe the U.S. has a -- quote -- "get Sama O' Laden" policy right now, but no long term policy for Afghanistan.

If you were to have the U.S. develop such a policy, what is the best advice you could give?

RASHID: Well, I think it's critical that the U.S. develop a political strategy for Afghanistan and the region, and not just a military strategy. I think the moment the war starts, we will see a very rapid collapse of -- and defections from the Taliban. There will be a lunge for power by some of the factions.

It's going to be very important for the U.S. to have a political strategy. The best way to achieve that, I think, is for the western alliance to go to United Nation Security Council and get another resolution, which would mandate the U.N. to help the Afghans form a new government in the post Taliban era.

I don't think the U.S. should undertake this on its own. It should be done through an international consensus, through the United Nations and the security council.

HEMMER: Ahmed Rashid live in Islamabad, Pakistan. I certainly wish we had more time. But again, there is a lot more to discuss, and we will, in the days and weeks ahead.

Ahmed Rashid, an author of the book called "Taliban," live with us in Islamabad.

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