“This is Afghanistan,” a Taliban fighter shouts on a pirate ship ride at an amusement park in western Kabul, as his armed comrades cackle and whoop onboard the rickety attraction.
With AK-47 and M4 assault rifles strapped to their chests, the soldiers cling to colorful steel benches as they are flung back and forth, their scarves and headdresses flapping in the wind. It was decided that a rocket launcher one of them was earlier cradling was better left on solid ground.
The group — ranging in age from 18 to 52 — is relaxing at a small amusement park next to the Qarghah Reservoir on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, where families and children normally ride the Ferris wheel and carousel.
Photo: AFP
The scene is an incongruous one: The Taliban fighters were in a playful mood in the capital that they had seized less than six weeks ago.
Since then, Afghans have feared a return to the group’s brutally oppressive rule of the 1990s, when they banned music, photography, television — and even children’s games such as kite-flying.
The Taliban promised a more moderate rule this time, but have curtailed Afghans’ freedoms, including excluding girls from school and sports.
Photo: AFP
Fighters from across the country flocked to Kabul after the Islamist hardliners swept to power in the middle of last month and many had never been to an amusement park.
Once the three-minute ride is over, the battle-hardened fighters clap, grin and giggle among themselves — and the RPG launcher is reunited with its owner.
On the shores of the picturesque reservoir, other Taliban members hop into swan-shaped pedal boats as the sun begins to set behind the hills in the distance.
Still brandishing their weapons, they set off in pairs across the water in the pink, blue, green, yellow and blue boats, laughing as the vessels bump together.
Dressed in camouflaged military uniforms and traditional Afghan clothes, they pose with their assault rifles as friends take pictures on the pebbly shore.
Nearby, a few senior Taliban members take the opportunity to pray, setting down their shawls between two boats on a dock.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS