even the most basic amenities, and people become susceptible to radical ideas. Reports of the corruption and mismanagement of the rulers further alienate ordinary people. To cope with these bewildering changes, ordinary folk fall back on traditional thinking.Madrassahs or religious schools have become popular again, and after a post-independence period when the emphasis was on Westernized schools, they began to flourish from the 1960s. The typical madrassah reflects the political agenda of Hamas in Palestine and the Taliban in Afghanistan: Islam as a vehicle for all encompassing changes; Islam as a challenge not only to the corrupt local elite, but also to the whole world order.These madrassahs laid the foundations for the populist and militant Islamic leadership that emerged in the 1990s. Mostly from lower middle-class backgrounds, speaking the local language, traditionally dressed, and, significantly, growing beards, the students of the religious schools were the Taliban warriors who went on to conquer Afghanistan.With all their zeal for Islam, and their burning desire to impose their vision on society, the Taliban violated two basic tenets of Islam in a manner calculated to cause offence to many in and outside the country. Firstly, their discrimination against women and the beatings that they administer, contrast with the gentleness and kindness of the Prophet of Islam towards women. His famous saying that `heaven is under the feet of the mother' sums up the traditional attitude of Islam to women. Secondly, the harshness of the Taliban towards minority groups, the non-Pathans, is also against the spirit of Islam, which encourages tolerance. The minorities of Afghanistan are also Muslims, but many non-Pathans have been discriminated against and treated with violence. This suggests an ethnic attitude rather than a religious one, although it may come under the guise of religion.Although the Taliban-style leadership is `new' in the sense...
