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The Taliban’s new police chief in Kandahar squints, steely-faced, as he mentions he “fought face-to-face” towards the Canadians on the entrance strains of Panjwaii.
“They got here right here to invade Afghanistan, they destroyed villages, did nighttime assaults, with American assist,” stated Abdul Ghafar Mohammadi, a former Taliban commander within the Panjwaii district simply west of Kandahar Metropolis.
Mohammadi now holds the highest enforcement job in the broader Kandahar Province, the place Canadian Forces had bitterly fought the Taliban throughout its 13-year mission in Afghanistan.
“Our expectations now of Canadians, in the event that they wish to assist Kandahar, they need to ship humanitarian help,” he stated, a remark that ignores Canada’s multimillion-dollar legacy of development projects, which the Taliban constantly tried to disrupt throughout the Afghan Warfare.
- Be part of us dwell at 12 p.m. ET as Susan Ormiston and Ellen Mauro reply your questions within the feedback beneath about their current experiences reporting in Afghanistan and the tales they coated there.
Throughout a half-hour interview with CBC Information at Kandahar’s police headquarters — constructed by the U.S. — Mohammadi solutions questions methodically. However he doesn’t take a look at the feminine journalist sitting in entrance of him.
WATCH | A return to Kandahar beneath Taliban management:
![](https://thumbnails.cbc.ca/maven_legacy/thumbnails/648/111/KANDAHAR_NEW_MPX.jpg?crop=1.777xh:h;*,*&downsize=510px:* 510w")
The Taliban are in energy in Kandahar province, the place Canadian troopers fought and dozens died. CBC Information’ Susan Ormiston returned to the area and spoke with former Taliban fighters now in authorities, on a mission to revive worldwide assist, and the villagers, who bear in mind the Canadians’ presence and whose lives are nonetheless tough beneath the brand new regime. 6:49
His media adviser, fluent in Pashto and English, breaks in periodically, teaching him on factors for the worldwide press.
“You’ve got been round Kandahar — you see the safety, how calm it’s,” stated Mohammadi, echoing a Taliban declare that beneath its regime, safety within the nation has already improved.
However simply 48 hours later, a powerful suicide bomb attack ripped right into a Shia mosque, killing 47 individuals, within the largest assault in Kandahar in years. ISIS-Ok — a militant group that is a sworn enemy of the Taliban — has claimed duty.
“When the Taliban got here, we didn’t assume that such incidents would occur in Kandahar,” stated the mosque’s imam, Sarder Mohammad Zaidi.
A brazen ask for help
Mohammadi is tasked with rebuilding Kandahar’s police power after most of its former officers fled when the Taliban took management of the area in mid-August, fearing violent reprisals.
His mission can also be to persuade former enemies to revive the overseas help that propped up Afghanistan over the past twenty years. In keeping with the World Financial institution, 43 per cent of Afghanistan’s GDP got here from overseas help and about 75 per cent of public spending was funded by overseas grants.
“We do not wish to have dangerous relations with any nation,” stated Mohammadi.
“Our door is open,” he stated. “We wish an excellent relationship with the worldwide neighborhood, as a result of we would like these nations to assist Afghans to rebuild.”
However throughout the interview, he additionally accused Canadian and different worldwide forces of inflicting “crimes” on Kandahar throughout the Afghan Warfare.
Two months after the Taliban swept into Kandahar Province — a part of its march towards Kabul and the last word collapse of Afghanistan — CBC Information went again to Panjwaii.
Situated 30 kilometers west of Kandahar Metropolis, with its dusty grape fields and dust compounds, Panjwaii is the place dozens of Canadian troopers fought and died.
The Taliban centred itself in Kandahar within the mid-Nineties, in addition to made their final stand there in 2001, earlier than falling to U.S.-led forces. Assist for the Taliban went underground throughout the battle, however remained robust within the area — and elsewhere in Afghanistan.
The Panjwaii District Centre, constructed with Canada’s assist in 2009, is now district headquarters for the Taliban, serving as a form of municipal workplace.
Subsequent door, a former military-operations centre is abandoned. New Afghan uniforms spill out of half-opened containers. A helmet lies within the mud. The final troopers for the Afghan authorities have been run out of right here in mid-July because the Taliban swept to energy.
The brand new district chief, Syfe Rahman Syfe, holds court docket behind a desk within the district workplace, guarded by fighters toting AK-47s and flanked by elders lined up towards one wall, listening to CBC’s questions. He struck an analogous tone to Mohammadi, asking for assist from his once-enemies.
“The Panjwaii individuals, they suffered lots from the battle and drought,” stated Syfe. He stated he was arrested by the usand jailed for 3 years within the infamous U.S. jail at Bagram Airfield.
“With the assistance of Allah, our God, we are going to present good safety while you deliver some help to the individuals. And you may return again to your private home with none struggling.”
In mid-July, as Panjwaii fell to the Taliban, Canada’s appearing chief of defence Lt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre issued a message to Canadian Forces.
“The autumn of Panjwaii has hit many people significantly arduous,” he wrote. “Whereas historical past would be the final decide, the present trajectory of the nation leaves us with a lot ache and doubt.”
When reminded of the 158 Canadian troopers killed in Afghanistan, Syfe stated: “As you suffered from the Afghanistan battle, we suffered too,” following that up with an admonition: “Sooner or later, don’t assault our land, our nation; do not use drones on our land.”
“There is no such thing as a safety menace,” he claimed. “The one drawback now we have is that the worldwide neighborhood just isn’t recognizing Afghanistan.”
Not one of the Western nations who fought the Taliban, together with Canada, has acknowledged the brand new regime.
Then he dispatches one in all his guards to journey with us — “we will assure your safety” — as we enterprise deeper into the district.
Assist for the Taliban
Panjwaii is struggling. A number of years of drought have killed crops, and the area wants colleges and roads, stated Syfe — the identical sorts of growth Canadian forces tried to construct up throughout its mission right here.
Within the close by Panjwaii Bazaar, a strip of outlets alongside the principle street, shopkeeper Abdul Bari remembers the Canadians continually on patrol, then boasts of the Taliban’s success.
“The Mujahadeen planted some IEDs,” he stated. “They usually ran away.”
IEDs have been the Taliban’s weapon of selection, hidden beneath roads and in culverts, with some killing and maiming Canadian troopers.
A number of the clean, paved roads that the Panjwaii space nonetheless advantages from have been constructed by Canadian and U.S. forces each to reduce the menace from IEDs and enhance farmers’ entry to their markets.
Villagers that spoke to CBC Information stated they hoped the Taliban flag would fly ceaselessly, however in addition they remembered Canadians’ presence right here and their departure in 2011.
“Canadians have been good individuals,” one man stated. “Once they realized their mission was towards the Afghan individuals, they left our nation, which was an excellent factor.”
‘How can I be glad?’
A half-hour away, down a rutted, dusty street snaking between mud huts and former Afghan Nationwide Safety Forces outposts, we come to what was the ultimate entrance line final summer season within the battle between the Taliban and ANSF forces.
Inside a household compound, a 75-year-old lady launched solely as Babuo sits, surrounded by seven grandchildren. She’s glad the battle is over, she stated, however then begins to cry.
One among her sons was a Taliban fighter and was killed in the previous few weeks of the battle in an airstrike, she stated.
“They introduced the useless physique again to me. He was martyred.”
Babuo sweeps her hand towards the children sitting round her.
“How can I be glad? I misplaced my beloved son. I’m left with all his kids, my grandchildren — what ought to I do with them now?”
The Taliban has received its battle in Panjwaii, however its issues are as entrenched as ever. It is now their job to unravel them.
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