JURIST EXCLUSIVE – Law students in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on Sunday. Here, a law student in Kabul offers his latest observations and perspective. For privacy and security reasons we are withholding his name and institutional affiliation. The text has been only lightly edited to respect the author’s voice.
Today, 17 August 2021, the Taliban’s spokesperson held his first press conference. Every question was answered generally and no specifics were given. The alarming thing in his answer to the question whether Afghan civilians who had worked in the past with Embassies and NATO were allowed to leave the country was that these are young, talented Afghan-born and bred citizens and Afghanistan would have need of them at some point. The implication of not allowing these people to exercise their right to immigrate is concerning. It brings the thought that despite them denying to pursue vengeful actions, the Taliban wants to keep a close eye on these people.
He also referred every question to the conclusion of the Doha talks, where the shape of the regime will be decided. Also no law is currently applicable in the country – he talked about the enactment of the laws after the decision on the regime. Which brings a huge uncertainty in general and in particular in judicial system of the country.
Simultaneous to these political talks in the last three days, the face of the city [Kabul] has changed drastically. Taliban militants patrol the cities with loud songs in Pashto and Arabic, which to their belief is “ISLAMIC”. These voices and songs take people back in the 90s where the Taliban first came into power and they strike fear into people. The news mostly covers what is going on, the big picture; however, distress is so dense that it is almost sensible in every corner of the city. Clothing has changed drastically – people are tempted to wear traditional clothes as it gives them a sense of immunity to some extent. This is only the tip of the iceberg; a psychologist would give anything to be here and observe the Stockholm syndrome in the masses, as people are convincing themselves that this change would be for the better by using the corruption of the former administration to justify this less foreseen change in their lives.
Getting out on the streets is unsettling in some sense, however contrary to the expected behavior from the Taliban, the common Taliban militant does not imply nor order any rules or alteration to people’s behavior, clothing or anything. However, the past experience of the people has told them to leave no reason, to avoid being targeted or least of all judged. The drastic change in clothing is quite depressing. Contrary to her portrayal in western media, Kabul is a beautiful city with deep-rooted culture and music. A normal sight of the city in Shar-e-naw [a commercial area in north-east Kabul] would be people opening up their shops and fancy businesses and restaurants with loud music. People would be dressed in every sort of clothing, somewhat like any other country. I remember a friend of mine from Herat once said “why do people in Kabul love wearing shorts so much?” In this last couple of days there is not a single sound of music and the TV channels only cover the news.
A lot of students are wary about the job market, especially law students as most of the legal jobs in future would be carried out by male Taliban who think they are expert in Sharia Law. Most law students are educated in modern forms of legal system. Afghanistan follows a mixed legal system weighing more on the Civil Law system than the Common Law. The new regime will insist on applying Sharia Law with a strict interpretation.
This will be the end of the modernization of law in this country. The job market in general is very concerning, as almost every country who supported Afghanistan or had international commercial relations with Afghanistan have halted their activities. There is a ray of hope for the people as the Taliban have developed a romantic relationship with China. This gives some hope to people that investments would be continuing. For the moment most businesses are stopped, and the Taliban are justifying that by the existence of a military situation and transition of power. I fear when the dust settles there will be an unprecedented unemployment rate. Well, at least for some people – the ice-cream sellers are covered by the Taliban’s obsession with ice-cream. On the bright sight there are many fewer reported criminal actions; the crime rate has dropped significantly due to the Taliban’s brutal form of justice, however inhumane it may be.
