Integrity Score 380
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Chapter 2 continues…
With the absence of an effective government machinery and devastated state institutions, it was only natural that the Taleban could not make much progress in matters of governance. Lack of ministries, state bureaucracies, an organised army and a state police were major drawbacks that the Taleban administration faced in Afghanistan. However they lacked the vision to set up a government on modern lines and in May 1997 listed their objective as restoration of peace, collection of weapons and implementation of the Shariat. In the same year the Taleban declared that 20 ministries had begun to function and these ministries would be involved in long-term and short-term development programmes. Matinuddin observes that all these programmes existed in paper only, as the trained manpower needed to run the affairs of the state along modern lines was absent.
Even at the time of their fall a significant portion of the northern provinces were not under Taleban control. Resistance by local groups were generally met with severe military response. One of the most effective tactics used widely was influencing the political, ethnic and family conflicts between the local armed groups. After capture of Kandahar they announced that they were fighting the local and regional armed groups for establishing peace in the war-ravaged country. It was because of this reason that many local communities greeted this conviction and supported the movement.
After the capture of Kandahar and Helmand province, the Taleban started intruding into the other provinces in a bid to bring the entire country under their control. In their effort to do so, the Taleban faced resistance from four armed forces: the northwest forces led by Ismail Khan; the north-east forces led by Ahmed Shah Massoud; the east forces under Nangarhar Shura and led by Abdul Haji Qadir; and the north forces led by General Dostum and the Afghan Shia factions. The Taleban, in their task of bringing the whole country under their command and control, appealed to the war-weary Afghans that the goal of their effort was not to pursue political power or achieve government control but to restore peace and security.
To be continued…