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September 26,
2001
Inside
Afghanistan:
Prisoners hail bin
Laden as 'a hero of Islam'
By Patrick Cockburn
The
Independent
in the Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan
If there is one place on earth where
the news of the attacks in America was greeted with total enthusiasm
it was among the 300 Taliban prisoners of war held in a jail
in the depths of the Panjshir Valley.
"To my mind what happened
in New York and Washington was very good work," said Ali
Akbar, an intense-looking man in his mid-20s with a black beard
and a white skullcap, who joined the Taliban and was captured
in fighting at the mouth of the Panjshir two years ago. "I
believe all the enemies of Islam are thirsting to destroy Islam.
It is the right of Muslims to defend themselves," he said.
Ali Akbar, formerly a timber
merchant in Pakistan, was sitting in a large cell crowded with
some 50 Taliban prisoners in Barak prison. Aside from himself
he said the other prisoners in the room were Afghans and all
"were glad and happy" about the attacks. They had heard
about them from guards because they were forbidden to have radios
or newspapers.
Barak Prison is a strange and
rather sinister place. Other parts of the Panjshir are beautiful
with green fields and water meadows. At Barak, however, nothing
grows and the sides of the valley are broken shale and grey rock.
But the entrance to Barak prison must be unique among penitentiaries
of the world. The only access is over a bridge across the fast-flowing
Panjshir river. But the prison authorities, presumably as a security
measure, have removed part of the corrugated metal, which is
the surface of the bridge. This meant that we had to clamber
for some yards hand over hand along the metal struts 20 feet
above the torrents below.
Any interviews with the inmates,
while the prison authorities are present, must carry a health
warning for the reader. We were invited by the foreign ministry
of the Northern Alliance, the opposition grouping that controls
the Panjshir. We would not have got in without their permission.
Obviously prisoners may be under pressure from the prison authorities
to say or not say various things and are vulnerable to punishment
if they do not comply. In this case there was no sign of the
prisoners being intimidated. When I asked Ali Akbar if he and
the others had been threatened he said: "We are not frightened
of anybody. Our views come from the heart." Probably the
reason for the officially arranged visit was that the Northern
Alliance wants the world to hear members of the Taliban endorse
the attacks on America and express support for Osama bin Laden.
They may also have wanted to show that the 19 Pakistanis among
the prisoners play a leadership role.
The Pakistanis did seem to
be the most ideologically committed and best educated. In the
prison yard we met Salahudin Khalid, a cheerful man with thick
pebble glasses who smiled easily. He said he was born in Baluchistan
27 years ago and had joined the Taliban through a Pakistani religious
party called Harrakatul Mujahedin after studying Islamic law
at the Punjab University in Lahore. He led a unit of 34 Taliban,
which was surrounded by National Alliance forces in a battle
in 1996.
He freely endorsed what Ali
Akbar had said about the attacks in the US. "What they did
against the World Trade Centre was very good," he said.
We asked about the dead civilians. He replied: "They were
political persons. They were not boys or girls." In fairness,
with limited information from the outside world Salahudin Khalid
probably knows little about the 6,000 dead in New York. But he
gave the impression that, even if he knew every detail of the
victims, his opinions would not have been much different.
The prison authorities at Barask
do not differ much from those in other parts of the world. Amin
Akrami, the commander of the prison, was wearing a military uniform
and under it a T-shirt reading "Venice Beach California".
He said smoothly: "Every journalist that comes here says
it is not like a prison but a holiday camp."
More practically, he added
that escape was very difficult because the Taliban prisoners
only spoke Pushtu or Urdu and not the Dari language, akin to
Persian, spoken in the Panjshir.
The Taliban prisoners were
impressive in their commitment. They also seemed very tough.
We asked Ali Akbar what would happen if America attacked Afghanistan.
He said: "Twenty years
ago, the Russians came here. You know what happened. If America
attacks I hope they and their opinions will be destroyed."
We said he was hardly in a position to fight. He replied: "Maybe
I cannot fight but I can pray." CP
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