Conditions in Afghanistan are steadily deteriorating, and the reason why is as simple as it is devastating: the Taliban simply don’t care about such matters. As long as the population is obeying Islamic rules, that’s all that matters to the jihad group that holds power. Allah will take care of all the rest, and if he doesn’t see fit to improve the lot of his zealous people in central Asia, they must accept their lot with resignation.
The latest catastrophe to hit this long-suffering people is a growing lack of potable drinking water. Kabul Now reported Monday that according to the European Union’s humanitarian office for the Asia-Pacific region, no fewer than “21 million people in Afghanistan do not have access to safe drinking water.”
On X, the EU’s office offered an explanation: “In Afghanistan, water is scarce due to years of conflict and worsening climate conditions, and over 21 million people lack access to safe water.” The bit about “worsening climate conditions” was an ad for the economic suicide the EU has been pushing on the West in pursuit of a chimerical solution to the climate change hysteria, but there was no denying that the water crisis in Afghanistan was real.
The EU office added: “With EU support, @Solidarites_Int installs wells and hand pumps to ensure families have clean water closer to home.” That’s terrific, but why is the proudly and ostentatiously Islamic government of Afghanistan relying on the European Union to solve this problem? Why isn’t it working in its own right to ensure that Afghans have safe drinking water?
Well, the Taliban regime has other priorities. Several weeks ago, four young men were arrested for a serious crime. Had they stolen water? Blocked up a stream? Or committed some other serious crime, such as murder or rape? No. Their crime was walking around in public dressed as characters from the British drama Peaky Blinders.
Yes, really. Afghanistan’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice released a photo of the four offenders, looking like anything but offenders: they were dressed in sharp suits, with trench coats and flat caps. But this is the Taliban’s Afghanistan.
CBS News reported that the four young men, Asghar Husinai, Jalil Yaqoobi, Ashore Akbari and Daud Rasa, all of whom are in their early twenties, “had become popular in their local Jibrail township, in the southern province of Herat, for strutting through the streets in trench coats and flat caps.”
Jalil Yaqoobi recounted that the people of Jibrail enjoyed seeing them: “At first we were hesitant, but once we went outside, people liked our style, stopped us in the streets, and wanted to take photos with us. Some comments were negative, but we only paid attention to the appreciation.”
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In Afghanistan, however, there is no such thing as harmless fun. The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said that the men’s suits were “contrary to Islamic values and Afghan culture.” Ministry spokesman Saif-ur-Islam Khyber explained: “They were promoting foreign culture and imitating film actors in Herat, arrested, and a rehabilitation program started for them. Praise be to Allah, we are Muslims and Afghans; we have our own religion, culture, and values. Through numerous sacrifices, we have protected this country from the spread of harmful cultures, and now we are also defending it.”
Later, Khyber amended his statement, noting that the four had not actually been arrested, but “only summoned and advised and released.” He elaborated on why they had run afoul of the law at all: “We have our own religious and cultural values, and especially for clothing we have specific traditional styles. The clothing they wore has no Afghan identity at all and does not match our culture. Secondly, their actions were an imitation of actors from a British movie. Our society is Muslim; if we are to follow or imitate someone, we should follow our righteous religious predecessors in good and lawful matters.”
Well, yeah. But when people don’t even have good water to drink, you’d think that the Taliban would have better things to do than arrest some guys for wearing suits. And now, after a long absence, this fanaticism is coming to the West, where numerous people in power are more concerned about appearing to be “Islamophobic” than they are appreciative of the threat this fanaticism represents. They should go to Kabul and try to get some drinking water.
