In the Tangi Valley, deep in the Afghan mountains, Ismail Ashuqullah, 25, regrets not having had time to carry out a suicide attack to “avenge the Koran”, when the war was raging in this region proud of its martyrs .
“When I was informed by my superiors that I had to join the battalion (of candidates for suicide attacks), I was delighted that God had chosen me. I felt a lot of joy”, hums in a voice sweet Ismail, look enhanced with kohl.
In the large room for guests, covered with rugs and cushions, the newlywed who receives an AFP team in the presence of his father – a farmer – and Taliban intelligence agents, explains having fought for eight years with the insurgents to chase the Americans and their NATO allies out of Afghanistan.
Two years before the withdrawal of foreign troops and the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021, after 20 years of war, he joined the ranks of the candidates for martyrdom, but was never chosen to act by the leaders of the battalion.
“I was doing jihad, but it didn’t satisfy me. So I thought I had to carry out an operation against them that could satisfy the hearts of Muslims around the world and mine too,” Ismail said, refusing to comment. say more about the conditions of his enlistment.
In Islam, those who perform jihad — which ranges from upholding one’s faith to devotion — are rewarded with a special place in heaven and bring honor to their families.
Taliban commanders have explained to their suicide bombers that suicide bombings constitute the ultimate jihad, which is strongly contested by the vast majority of the Muslim world.
The Tangi Valley, home to more than 22,000 people, remained largely under Taliban control throughout the war due to its strategic position some 70 kilometers from the capital Kabul.
In this verdant gorge surrounded by high arid peaks, American soldiers established a camp between 2009-2011. Installed not far from cob houses with rudimentary comfort, they will be the incessant target of the Taliban rebels. In August 2011, an American helicopter was shot down by rocket fire and its 38 occupants were killed.
At the same time, night air raids are regularly carried out by foreign armies.
The war is raging and the intrusions of the soldiers into the houses where the women slept, in defiance of cultural norms, feed the resentment of the inhabitants.
“We had no weapons to compete with, so we saw fit to equip ourselves with explosives and enter the places sheltering the infidels to break their jaws and reduce their bones to ashes”, vituperates Abdul Wahab Siraj , 25, another candidate for suicide in the region, interviewed by AFP.
“We were so madly in love with Allah that life had no importance for us”, continues Abdul, who says he is always ready to commit a suicide attack if his “leaders ask him to do so” and is now a police employee.
The ultimate sacrifice follows a strategy developed by the Taliban consisting in making these young men believe that they are “special” and “superior to the rest of society, including other Taliban”, analyzes Michael Semple, professor at Queen’s belfast university. The son of the current supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has also committed a suicide attack.
“During the indoctrination phase (…), they are encouraged to believe that this world in which we live today is fundamentally unimportant” and that “glory is in martyrdom”, continues this specialist in Afghanistan.
A key element of the Taliban’s campaign, inspired by Al-Qaeda, the suicide attack received strong media coverage.
The targets were mainly foreign fighters and Afghan troops, but also politicians. However, it “must be remembered that the first victims are the Afghan civilians”, underlines Michael Semple.
According to a report by the UN mission in Afghanistan, the year 2019 recorded the record number of civilian victims of suicide attacks committed by the Taliban, with 1,499 victims, including 165 killed.
This is without counting the psychological impact they cause by sowing terror among the population, notes the organization.
“When a suicide bomber managed to hit his target, not only me, but also all my friends would say that we would like to have achieved it and that it was not enough, that we could do better”, comments Ismail, without the slightest remorse for the civilians killed, whose “it was destiny”.
Although he regrets not having been “chosen by God” to die in a car bomb as he wished, Ismail nevertheless says he is “satisfied” with the return under the Taliban government of a ministry for the Prevention of vice and Promotion of virtue, or the prohibition of music.
“It is obvious that the role of the Isteshhadi Mujahideen (perpetrators of suicide attacks) has been preponderant”, to “defend the country and its values”, comments Bilal Karimi, deputy government spokesman, interviewed by AFP, who recalls that the “Afghans did not want war”.
In a nearby village, Mir Aslam Amiri, 60, who fought the Russian invasion (1979-1989), also says he is very proud that his 20-year-old son, Najeebullah, offered himself to God to fight “the infidels “by committing an attack in Kabul in 2014, which killed a dozen people.
When his son, who attended a madrassa (Koranic school) obtained his first diploma, he says he incited him to martyrdom.
The day he left home to carry out his mission, “I have never seen him so happy”, assures the father of the family.
His mother also recalls the arrest of Najeebullah by the United States, when he was a teenager, in the family farm: “They beat him and tortured him. He then swore that he would not spare them and would go as far as sacrifice for Allah, even if it was twenty years later”.
Anxious to carry out the operation, the young boy will go so far as to prepare his explosive jacket to ensure that it works on D-Day, details his father.
A few days later, Mir Aslam Amiri learns of his son’s death and informs his wife.
“I told him, congratulations, your son died as a martyr. God granted him success,” recalls Aslam, who encouraged another of his sons to follow the same path, without him going through with it. ‘deed.
Hiding her face under a long white veil, Amina, who remained on the sidelines, struggled to hold back her tears: “I am very proud of what he did at such a young age.
He left with my consent, but his memory affects me a lot. We have been through very difficult times.”
08/06/2023 08:47:59 – Tangi Valley (Afghanistan) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
