The fall of the Taleban remembered

The Taleban regime fell in November 2001

It is three years since the fall of the Taleban in Afghanistan.

To mark the anniversary BBCPersian.com spoke to three Kabul residents about their memories of life under the Taleban and the fall of the regime.

They include a woman who was the first to announce the news on Kabul radio, a former civil servant under the Taleban, and a journalist who was arrested and beaten by Taleban soldiers.

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Mother-of-five Jamileh Mojahed was the first local broadcaster to announce the news of the collapse of the Taleban regime, on Radio Kabul. She has worked for Afghan Radio and TV for 20 years.

She now runs a women's magazine, as well as a radio station for women. She is also preparing to launch an Afghan TV station for women.

When the Taleban captured Kabul, we were forced to leave our jobs and stay at home.

We received our salaries for a year, but after a year they said according to a decree by the Taleban leader, Mullah Omar, paying salaries to women should discontinue.

A day before 11 November 2001, we could feel that the Taleban had become very weak.

Their positions had been bombarded by American B52's. Taleban members fled the city in their cars.

Some people were looting government offices. At first, I was too scared to go out.

Then one of my former colleagues came to my house and told me to go with him to the radio station.

He said they were going to resume transmission and they needed me to present the programme. I accepted the offer immediately.

I put on my veil as usual because I was scared that if members of the Taleban were still out there, they would attack me.

We received a phone call from a woman who said she did not believe I was on the radio announcing the news

When I arrived at the office, I was very distressed to see my former colleagues with long beards and miserable clothes.

It was exactly 1330 [local time] and I started the programme by saying: "In the name of God, the Beneficent and the Merciful."

I then read a message to the people that I still remember.

I started it with this sentence: "Dear fellow citizens of Kabul, the Taleban, who were armed with whips, are fleeing the city. They did not know that the unarmed people of Kabul would have God to help them."

We broadcast a piece of nationalist music which was banned under Taleban.

We then received a phone call from a woman who said she did not believe I was on the radio announcing the news.

Another caller said they took their radio up on the roof and turned the volume up so that everyone would know that women's voices were allowed to broadcast on the radio again.

We continued to announce news and messages throughout the day. We received many phone calls until 10pm that night and then we finished the programme and went home.

I'll never forget that day for the rest of my life. It was unforgettable, not just for me but for all Afghan women.

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Wahid Mojdeh, who held a senior position at the Afghan foreign ministry under the Mujahideen and the Taleban, was also a witness to the ending of both regimes in Afghanistan.

His book, Afghanistan and Five Years of Taleban Rule, is based on the documents he collected during his time with the foreign ministry.

He currently works as the head of publications at Afghanistan's Supreme Court.

Following the attacks of 9/11 it became rapidly apparent that Afghanistan and the Taleban would be a prime target for the US.

But the Taleban were totally ignorant of the signals and were running the country as usual.

A day before the fall of Kabul I met a few of their foreign ministry officials including Abdul Rahman Zahed, the deputy Foreign Minister.

Like many others he cited Mullah Omar's comments that if anyone should be worried about losing his kingdom, he needn't be, and should hold out and stay.

Nonetheless the majority of these officials had already moved their immediate families to other parts of the country like Kandahar.

The reality is that non-military Taleban were not aware of the armed Taleban withdrawal from Kabul.

The most important thing the Taleban did for this country was that they did not allow it to disintegrate

Soon after the military wing of the Taleban had left Kabul, Northern Alliance forces moved in.

Many people showed their joy at the Taleban's removal by playing loud music from loudspeakers.

The Taleban were an enigma for me and many others, but one should know that they were not just coming from one school of thought.

Many political groups and schools of thought in fact made up Taleban. There were also those within the Taleban system that were moderate and had a reformist view of governing the country.

But they never got a real chance to implement their ideals. I worked with these people in the foreign ministry and that is why I stayed within the Taleban regime.

Things are far better now that they have been removed but their presence in Afghanistan had positive points that we should not ignore.

The most important thing they did for this country was that they did not allow it to disintegrate.

But it is also true that they were not cut out for running a country. They thought they could run Afghanistan like a seminary.

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Naseer Neshat is an Afghan journalist and poet. He was a military reporter before the Taleban came to power. During the Taleban's rule, he wrote for a humour magazine, under a pseudonym.

He was arrested and beaten by the Taleban once. He says he is disabled as a result. He was arrested, he says, because he was from the northern Panjshir region. The Taleban themselves were from the southern, Pashtun-dominated area of the country.

He says the Taleban did not tolerate other ethnic backgrounds in Afghanistan. He is now working as a freelance journalist and poet.

Two days before the Taleban collapsed, there was chaos in Kabul. The wealthy went abroad or to other provinces.

People were worried that the Taleban might not leave the city after being defeated.

People rushed to the food stores to get as much food as they could in order to store it. Food prices soared.

But at night when the Taleban left the city the worries went away. Everyone was sure that they would not come back.

The queue was so long I went back home and used my own scissors to cut my beard

I witnessed the Taleban's cars leaving the city. I also witnessed some thugs looting public offices.

Finally I decided to go to the barber's to have my beard cut. But the queue was so long. So I went back home and used my own scissors to cut my beard.

The worst memory of my life was the day the Taleban arrived in Kabul and my best memory was when they left for good.

The Taleban were not just an extremist religious group. They were a fascist and chauvinistic group.

They saw other ethnic groups as their servants. They even made fun of us. I hope the black history of Afghanistan never comes back to haunt us again.

I congratulate all Afghan people and everyone who believes in a civil society for ridding ourselves of the Taleban.

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Did you live under the Taleban regime in Afghanistan? Do you remember the fall of the Taleban? Send us your comments.

Your comments:

The only good thing about the Taleban was that when they first came, they really did provide good security for the country, the people were safe. The reason why they came to power was to stop looting, rape, kidnapping for ransom and lawlessness, which they did. Everyone in the beginning was happy with them, but unfortunately they went the wrong way later on.
Karim, Kabul, Afghanistan

Yes the Taleban are out, but now we just have another Pashtun puppet of America. The Taleban were ousted due to the help of the non-Pashtun Northern Alliance. The government must not forget the presence of the other major and minor ethnic groups who fought for Afghanistan. If they don't, Karzai will continue to remain mayor of Kabul.
Omid Behbahani, Mashad, Iran

I was a student during the Taleban regime. I really remember the strict rules of that time... I couldn't bear that so I escaped to Pakistan. I am really against any extremist and hardliners, but in the case of the Taleban I can add that the great advantage of the Taleban regime for Afghanistan was that they saved Afghanistan from division. They eliminated several groups fighting for power. And another advantage of the Taleban regime is that they paved the way for the Americans to take the power and make a democrat regime led by Hamid Karzai.
Zahid Stanikzai, Kabul, Afghanistan

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