Young suicide bombers in the Afghan Valley are proud of themselves

Like many other young men from the verdant Tangi Valley, Taliban-trained suicide bomber Ismail Ashuqullah regrets not blowing himself up during the height of the Afghan conflict.

Before enlisting in a special unit trained for suicide operations, he had fought for the Taliban for eight years against foreign forces commanded by the US and Afghan government soldiers.

But he lost his opportunity when foreign soldiers withdrew in 2021 and the Western-backed administration fell apart.

“I was thrilled that God had chosen me when my commanders told me I had to join the battalion. Ashuqullah, a 25-year-old bride with kohl-lined eyelids, declares, “I felt a lot of delight.

“I was doing jihad, but it didn’t fill me with joy. I thus believed that I had to execute a plan that would fulfill both my own desires and those of all Muslims worldwide.

In Tangi Valley, a hilly area in eastern Afghanistan where the residents are proud of the young men despatched to their deaths in the name of jihad, Ashuqullah talked with AFP while being observed by his father and Taliban intelligence operatives.

The Arabic word “jihad” is used in Islam to refer to a variety of religious conflicts, from internal spiritual battles to outright violence.

Taliban commanders instructed its militants that suicide bombings were the pinnacle of jihad in accordance with their strict interpretation of Islam.

The Isteshhadi Mujahideen (suicide warriors) played a significant part, according to Bilal Karimi, a spokesperson for the present Taliban leadership.

“All of the forces of the Islamic Emirate, but especially these Mujahideen, fought with their national and Islamic spirit.”

RUN THEIR BONES TO ASHES.

The United States and its NATO allies waged a two-decade war against the rebels to support the Western-backed Afghan government after toppling the first Taliban rule in 2001.

As a result of its strategic location some 70 kilometers (40 miles) from the city, Tangi valley, which is home to at least 22,000 people, was targeted by foreign troops for most of that conflict and remained largely under Taliban control.

Between 2009 and 2011, American soldiers controlled a location with a view of the valley, and they often conducted night raids to seek for Taliban fighters.

In violation of local tradition, they raided houses where women lived alone, inciting resentment among Afghans.

Another suicide volunteer, Abdul Wahab Siraj, claimed, “We had no weapons to compete with, so we saw fit to equip ourselves with explosives and enter the places sheltering the infidels to break their jaws and reduce their bones to ashes.”

“We were so consumed by our devotion for Allah that we gave life no significance… Through sacrifice, we were attempting to approach him as quickly as possible.

SOLDIER’S SON OF A LEADER

The Taliban came to be known for their suicide operations, which were successful in spreading terror and causing large-scale deaths.

The Taliban assert that Afghan government forces and foreign fighters were always the intended targets, although the majority of casualties were civilians, including women and children.

According to a report by the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, the Taliban claimed responsibility for 1,499 civilian deaths caused by suicide strikes in 2019 alone.

Attacks ranged from lone suicide bombers striking foreign soldiers’ convoys to intricate operations against military sites including explosive-laden automobiles and gunmen posing as police officers.

In one such incident, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the son of the Supreme Leader, detonated himself.

According to Michael Semple, a professor at Queen’s University in Ireland’s Peace and Security Institute, the bombers were often young males who had been raised to think they were better than the rest of society.

“They are encouraged to believe that this world in which we live today is fundamentally unimportant” and that “glory is in martyrdom” during the indoctrination period, he said.

“CONGRATS, YOUR SON DID DIE,”

The 60-year-old Mir Aslam Amiri, who fought against the Soviet invasion in the 1980s, talks passionately about his son Najeebullah’s “success” as a suicide bomber in the Tangi Valley.

I congratulated him on finishing the madrassa and told him, “Son! Start the jihad right now. You should do jihad right now because the infidels have taken over our nation, he said AFP.

He believes that the day his kid went on his mission in 2014 was the happiest he had ever seen him.

He informed his wife Amina as soon as he learned of his son’s passing: “Congratulations, your son died a martyr.”

She agrees while sitting under her husband’s watchful gaze and concealing her face beneath a lengthy white veil.

At such a young age, “he did a very honorable job,” she said, adding that he had made the decision to become a bomber after being physically assaulted by American soldiers who stormed the family home.

“He left with my permission, but his memory has a big impact on me.”