Op-ed: Is The Taliban a Fascist Regime?

Outrage and shock can sometimes interfere with our ability to get to the bottom of the reason for merciless killing. Some people see violence as violence, and fail to look any closer. In truth, the reason for any discrimination or massacre could differ greatly, while the results are still this same. This is the case with the Taliban versus a Fascist regime. While the Taliban possesses a few of the same characteristics, they are not a Fascist regime because they do not have an organized military, they discriminate among their own race, and they use fear to get people on their side.

Organized military does not exist with the Taliban. They are guerilla armies that kill and kill and kill. Their main focus is killing, not war. Fascists focus on war, and their army is the most important thing. One of the main points that Benito Mussolini makes when he describes Fascism is that “War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it.” (handout) With the Taliban, there are bombs and gunshots and death, but not two sides fighting on a battlefield. How is a member of the Taliban supposed to put on the “stamp of nobility” if there is no war to prove himself with? Because of this, it is clear the Taliban cannot be Fascists.

Along with not having organized warfare, the Taliban has no issue with minorities, but more an issue with the women of their own race. This is not the case with Fascism. Fascism sought to unify their own race and destroy all the racial minorities. The Taliban is tearing apart their own race. They forbid women from going to school and being independent, and they kill anyone who gets in their way, even if all these people are Muslim. They don’t care about destroying their race, while Fascists care only about unifying their race.

Lastly, the Taliban uses fear and public killing to get people on their side, while Fascists use bribes and promises of greatness. These methods could not be more different. This relates back to the fact that the Taliban has no problem killing their own race. If there are people that challenge them, these people die a painful, public death, even if they are Muslim. Because Fascists would never kill their own race, they had to use other methods to get people on their side. Erna Kranz, a German teenager in the 1940s, said that Fascism during Nazi Germany was “A glimmer of hope… not just for the unemployed but more everyone because we all knew we were downtrodden.” (Strayer) Fascists bribe with hope, and the Taliban, quite simply, does not promise anything.