by Mukheled Al-Amiry

Created on: May 14, 2009   Last Updated: May 19, 2009

When the realities on the ground run deeper than what is seen on the surface, and when the visible symptoms are but a tiny microcosm of the full affliction and when you see the glum faces of gun-toting Taliban controlling the streets of major population centres in Pakistan; you will know that this virulent Taliban disease has taken hold and is spreading.

Why we ask? Why would a doctrine which embraces a distorted version of Islamic ideology, attract such a wide popular following in the relatively short period of time, since its inception? Why would anyone pledge their lives to armed groups of thugs, roaming the streets of their cities and the hillsides of their countryside, dispensing a horrifically depraved version of Shariah law, with

public beheading, throat-slitting, stoning, flogging and limb-amputation?

Where do the Taliban draw their ever-growing support from? Can it be the magnetic personality of Mullah Mohammed Omar or the oratory skills of Osama bin Laden? Are the recruits attracted by promises of financial reward which would elevate them out of destitution? The answer to all of these questions begins with a simple no and then moves on to a far more complex analysis.

In a world where civilised central government laws and regulations are not applied in remote and rural tribal regions, whether through the ineptitude or the corruption of local officials -if they ever existed- lawlessness and feudal turmoil would soon ensue. The mantel of control then rests upon the shoulders of those who command the highest respect from the local populace and in this case it would be the tribal elders whose words are law and the Mullahs whose decrees are sacrosanct. This has been the status-quo in these regions for centuries.

A Talib (student) begins his learning life in a Madrassah (Islamic school) by learning to read and memorize passages from the holy Quran verbatim, and as it is in Arabic, a language far removed from his own; he is left with whatever translations the Mullah deems to impart. More often than not, the expression "Lost in translation," applies perfectly.

The Mullahs demand and usually obtain blind obedience from their students, lest they would be cursed with eternal damnation, or at least a sound thrashing with a cane. When a child sees his own parents giving their unstinted support to the Mullah, who is after all instilling social values in their precious son; that Talib child enters into a process of irreversible indoctrination, which he will

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