Taliban Fascistas

James Huber

Mama Pugs

Modern World History

February 28 and March 1, 2010

Are the Taliban Fascistas?

Recently we have studied the Taliban and fascist movements in Italy and Germany. Coincidence? I think not. Mama Pugs is not so subtly trying to show how the Taliban represent a modern day fascist movement. That of course means that I will try to disprove her argument. But I will grudgingly admit that after coming up with a template for the causes and actions of a fascist government I spot many similarities with the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

down-trodden country

economic problems

labeling the scapegoat

we'll fix all your problems, just give us political power!

quick suppression of anything not similar

tapping into public's feelings

tradition

not necessarily not progressive?

So yes, I'll say that the Taliban are a fascist movement. But because I like my old argument and I don't want to completely ditch it, here is my first Taliban - fascist argument.

The Taliban have been receiving more attention in the United States recently because of the US’s push to secure strategic points in Marja in the southern province of Helmand. This offensive naturally raises questions about the Taliban and what they stand for. What do they want? Who in history are they similar to? Are they, gasp, a fascist movement? No, they are not. The Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan cannot be seen as fascist movements because of their confined national goals and lack of elitism.

1. The Taliban Don’t Want to Take Over the World

I’ll admit that I don’t know much about fascism, but when I think fascist I immediately think about the Nazis and Italians under Mussolini during World War II. They’re the only fascist movement I know and they exemplify the expansionist ideals of fascism. Germany took over basically all of Europe and was poised to invade Great Britain.

The Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan are not like that. They are trying to disrupt the Afghan government and the goals of US forces. They are essentially a nuisance, a very powerful terrorist group, but just a nuisance. Maybe back in their heyday the Taliban had greater plans of spreading their rule forcibly onto other Muslim states, but after being ousted from power the Taliban have more realistic goals. They just want to get in the way and not allow the Afghan government to function. They want to regain their past power, but don’t have any grand goals of domination in the Muslim world because they realize those goals are farfetched.

1. The Taliban are Scruffy

The Taliban may have elitist ideals like they derogatory views on women, but these ideals are undermined by their less than elite appearances.

The class said that elitism is an aspect of fascism, but would we really consider a loosely organized terrorist group that hides out in mountains to be elitist? The Taliban scuttle back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan and fight sporadically, instead picking the right moment for a cowardly suicide bombing. This doesn’t seem similar to the proud Nazi Germany of WWII that had wealth, clean pressed uniforms and brought the fight to other countries.

And now here is why the Taliban are fascist.

Going solely off of my knowledge from The Kiterunner, the Soviets briefly held control in Afghanistan before the Taliban booted them out and took over. This is a classic case of a previously proud country, perhaps having just lost a war or was invaded and disgraced by a foreign country. The Nazis took advantage of a hurting country and got rid of the democratic Weimar Republic just like the Taliban got rid of the Soviets and were seen as heroes.

Maybe Afghanistan was doing all right economically when the Soviets were in power, but most likely they weren't. I mean, Afghanistan isn't exactly an economic powerhouse unless you count the opium they produce. So most likely the Taliban made some promises that they would improve the country's economy.

The Taliban were also able to take advantage of how Islamic their country was. Afghanistan is essentially a Muslim state and Islam doesn't exactly sing the praises of women. The Taliban took advantage of this by enforcing traditional Islam just like the Nazis did by going back to the more rural days of the past in Germany.