Central and South Asia

New Taliban “code of conduct”

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Anchor Katy Clark speaks with the BBC’s David Loyn about what Taliban leaders are promoting as a new code of conduct for militants. This new code echoes recent U-S efforts to win the hearts and minds of Afghan civilians.

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KATY CLARK: Taliban fighters are well known for their ruthless tactics. Beheadings or stonings of civilians, and actions like throwing acid in the face of schoolgirls, are common Taliban practices. But Taliban militia leader Mullah Omar is promoting a new code of conduct. He says his fighters will avoid civilian casualties. The new rules call for limiting suicide attacks and specify how to treat prisoners. The BBC’s David Loyn is in the Afghan capital Kabul where he’s taken a look at the new rules of engagement. He says the code is ratcheting up the battle for hearts and minds in Afghanistan.

DAVID LOYN: Some of the things that they talk about in terms of protecting civilians, sound very similar to what the US and other foreign forces have said in Afghanistan recently, “We’re here to protect civilians.” And I think the Taliban responding to that and saying, “No, we’re the people who protect civilians.”

KATY CLARK: And the Taliban, they’re not exactly this very cohesive military fighting force. I mean, many of the militia are thought to be fighting just simply for the money, and they participate in criminal activities like kidnapping to make a living. Are all those who consider themselves Taliban going to seize to Mullah Omar’s control?

DAVID LOYN: There are militias certainly in Afghanistan who don’t owe elegance to Mullah Omar. But, you know, my understanding, having spent a long time in this country over the years, is that his control is still pretty good over the main fighting force of the Taliban. He has a, sort of, provincial structure of governors who answer to him. More than half of the countryside of Afghanistan now is affectively under Taliban control.

KATY CLARK: And as I have read, Taliban fighters have been issued a pocketbook version of these rules called The Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan Rules For Mujahideen. Have you had a look at the book yourself?

DAVID LOYN: Yes. What they talk about in this book is very clear. The opposition to irregular armed groups is strong, that they will act very ruthlessly against people who are not under their command. They say that they’ll only carry out suicide attacks on major targets, that young jihadis should not throw away their lives on anything other than an important target. They say that prisoners should not be hurt. And that’s one of the key things in this, they say they won’t raise money for hostages, and as well as that, they say they’ll treat civilians well. It actually all draws itself from original Pashtun rules. This is a society, the Pashtun tribe across the south of Afghanistan who have a very strong moral honor code themselves. And I saw it practically working myself a couple of years ago, when I spent some time with the Taliban, reporting for the BBC. I write about the incident in the new book of mine, which is just out in the States called, In Afghanistan. And when I was with them, there were a group of Taliban fighters who came to kill me because they’d heard that I was in the area, and they were killing Englishmen at that time. And the commander who invited me, said, “No, this man is my guest.” And the Pashtun hospitality rules worked. I saw them working very practically in the field, fortunately in my favor.

KATY CLARK: I’m wondering if putting this booklet out now is an indication perhaps that members of the Taliban, leadership of the Taliban are interested in participating more formally in the political process in Afghanistan.

DAVID LOYN: Well, there’s been a huge amount of discussion about this, particularly in Britain in recent weeks where I think there’s some impatience in belief that Karzai government is not as serious about talking to the Taliban as some people would like. And there’s been a major public debate, really, about the causes of the war and the reason for the war, and why we’re still involved here eight years later. And both governments are having to explain, I think now more than ever what the war is about. And what the war is about is providing political space for ultimately what they know that they’ll have to do, which is a political settlement. And that Taliban leadership have never said that they’re opposed to that. In fact, I think they would, from what I hear from my sources, would be keep on having some of a negotiated settlement for the future of Afghanistan. But at the same time, they feel that they can’t sell that to their constituents, because there’s been a very large number of civilian casualties recently.

KATY CLARK: Well David Loyn, I’m curious, I mean, up until this point individual Taliban commanders have had a relatively fair degree or autonomy in their actions. I mean, they’ve been able to decide what operations to conduct, how to run the territory that they control. Is there a chance that this effort to centralize authority by Mullah Omar could backfire?

DAVID LOYN: Your assessment is not mine. Having spent a fair amount of time on the ground with the Taliban, I see them talking often on the radio to commanders and getting instructions from across the boarder in Pakistan. I see this as a pretty centralized movement, obviously there are some local militias who are attached to them, who carry out operation in an individual way. But if you talk to senior military officers, both in the British and American forces in the last year, the Taliban have changed their tactics. They’re flexible, they are quite highly respected on the ground in the way that they fight, and in the way that they have got command structures that work. This is not just local red tag militias having a go at the international forces. This is a force with some thought of fighting a complex guerilla war, and changing its tactics quite a lot.

KATY CLARK: So in a way, I mean, is this a public relations effort, or more of an effort by Mullah Omar to try to consolidate control?

DAVID LOYN: Well I think it’s both of those things. He is reminding his people, and indeed reminding Afghanistan that he is the Amir, the leader of the Taliban. And at the same time he’s reminding the international community that he’s in control, and trying to say, I think that there is a moral honor code that his people will fight under. So that in the future, if there are kidnappings or there are incidents of violence which operate outside the organization, then they’ll be able to say much more strongly, this wasn’t us, this is against our honor code, or act against individuals within them, and they’re a very ruthless organization.

KATY CLARK: The BBC’s David Lyon in Kabul. He was describing the Taliban militia’s new code of conduct.

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