Taliban stirs uneasiness

The Islamic fundamentalist movement that gained control over much of Afghanistan with a recent string of military victories has brought a measure of stability to the country for the first time in years. But the arbitrary actions of the government formed by the Taleban, as the movement is called, have also stirred anger in Afghanistan and uneasiness in the region. The United States and other countries that helped Afghanistan rid itself of Soviet troops must now try to persuade its inexperienced rulers to stop the export of drugs, weapons and terrorism. The Taliban leadership also needs to recognize that mistreatment of women in the name of Islam is wrong.

The Taliban gained strength in the last two years among the ethnic Pushtoons living in the villages of eastern Afghanistan and the refugee camps of adjacent Pakistan, where millions of Afghans fled after the Soviet intervention of 1979. Trained at religious schools and pledging to eliminate corruption, they set about trying to oust the fractious coalition of guerrilla groups that had forced the Soviets out and ruled in Kabul.

The Taleban's first actions after seizing Kabul were disquieting. They executed Najibullah, the former Communist president who had been hiding in a UN compound since his own ouster in 1992. Najibullah was a hated figure, but he should have been brought to trial instead of being tortured and summarily executed. Nor was it reassuring for the Taleban to impose a strict Islamic social code, shutting down girls schools and telling women to stay at home or venture out only when covered head to foot. These decrees have already prompted middle-class families and professionals to flee a country that badly needs their skills.

The Taleban says it has no intention of permanently denying women their rights, but its record elsewhere in Afghanistan suggests otherwise. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan has been helpful in publicly noting that Islam does not require the denial of education and health care to women. The United Nations was right Monday to warn the new government that it risks a pullout of relief organizations if it tolerates unequal treatment of men and women.

The most welcome comment from the Taleban was its pledge to oppose the spread of terrorism. Since the anti-Communist insurgency began in the 1970s, the remote mountains and valleys of the country have served as training camps for guerrillas. Some camp graduates are believed to have been involved in terrorist acts from Pakistan to the Middle East to the World Trade Center explosion in New York City.

Afghanistan is also one of the world's biggest sources of heroin, which gained revenue for the anti-Communist guerrillas. The Taleban, with its puritanical pronouncements, may be sympathetic to cracking down on the export of drugs, but the new Afghan leaders may find the profits hard to resist. The surest way of ending Afghanistan's reliance on drug and weapons trading is to encourage economic development in areas devastated by the country's more than two decades of war.

Afghanistan's stability and recovery depend greatly on the enlightened conduct of outside powers that have long exploited the savage rivalries among its ethnic groups and tribal fiefs. The Taleban's rise to power may prove to be just another phase in the country's civil war. So far the Taleban has given no sign to a battered Afghanistan that it intends to be a force for reconciliation and humane leadership.

-- The New York Times