Rituals of terror

Why? Once again there were heavy grief, family sorrow, and the unexpected and terrible bloody deaths of innocent persons. Why? If these killings were rituals of terror, what was the motive, the mind behind it? I then looked at a documentary (Clover Films) that separately covered the daily lives of Isis and Taliban soldiers and the residents of the mountainous villages around Kabul. An Isis group leader told two reporters they are all aware, as one example, of the “massive murders committed by Russia, France and America against their brothers.” Some left Taliban to join Isis, founded by Al Zarqawi in 2004 who violently exploited the broken-down Iraq left behind by US military. Suicide bombers and public beheading, a most frightening ritual, quickly attracted international attention. Isis surrealistic mission, the motivating idea and “God’s wish,” is an Islamic world (Caliphate). Killing such an idea is not easy.

It seemingly attracts youthful recruits. Why? Simonson and Spindlove (Terrorism Today) explained that “secular terrorists” view indiscriminate violence as “’immoral and counterproductive,” while “religious terrorists” view their violence as both “morally justified and necessary.” They use the language of religion, not so much the religion, to justify terrorism and a guilt-free mind. This lifted language preaches purity and order in a “disordered and vulgar world,” justifying violence. Simonson and Spindlove suggested that while secular terrorists seek to appeal to a constituency of their sympathisers and the aggrieved people they claim to speak for, religious terrorists act for no audience but themselves.

They added: “The absence of a constituency, combined with an extreme sense of alienation, means that such terrorists can logically justify almost limitless violence against virtually any target who is not a member of their own religious belief or sect.” For them, violence becomes a “religious duty.” In other words, briskly branding Abedi or other bombers as “crazy, irrational” or even “criminals” do not fit. They see their violence as “a holy mission,” leaving the rest of the world to wonder at Isis “impossible mission.” Both Isis and Taliban speak proudly of the revenge-bombings they inflicted from Russia’s St Petersburg to London and Europe.

Their relationship with Al Qaeda is hot and cold. “We have Mujahideen all over the world now,” said the Isis soldier. The documentary showed a Taliban attack on a barricaded camp of the Afghanistan National Army (ANA). Returning to their base and worried villagers, the Taliban leader announced two of their soldiers got killed but praised them as holy martyrs. They killed two but we killed seven, he said. Mainstream Muslims across the world have publicly expressed embarrassment over Isis and the Taliban, especially since terrorist victims include thousands of Muslims too.

Then there is the “Sunnis killing Shiites” and vice versa. Geopolitical differences and a fractured Middle East add to the complexity. There is growing consensus that a political, not a military, solution could help dampen a lot of terrorism. The flaw in this exists, for example, in Palestine which, facing Israel, contains sharp political divisions within Palestine itself. Quite a complex challenge.

In the occupied villages near Kabul, the locals express comfort with the Taliban’s presence. In another documentary (Clover Films) with a Danish journalist, the locals said since the Taliban appeared, there has been “no stealing, no adultery, few outstanding debts.” There is the panchayat ritual. Taliban leaders hold court and deliver sentences - chopped arms for stealing, execution for murder. In the documentary, US Ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker noted how, before Taliban, the Afghan judicial system was very inefficient, very slow and corrupt.

No formal education for girls beyond puberty, advocates the Taliban.

In “Khalid Groups,” children five to twelve are taught how to hold guns and shoot. – a rite of passage.

They are reminded of how “the infidels k i l l e d t h e i r f a m i - lies.” The r i t u a l s b e g i n early.