Taliban backed by 13% of Afghans

.................................................................... Taliban Rule Is the Democratic Will of 13% of Afghans 8-18-2021 Asia Foundation polling: This year, the proportion who say they have no sympathy with the Taliban has grown by almost 3 percentage points, from 82.4% in 2018 to 85.1% this year. The proportion of respondents who have a lot or a little sympathy for the Taliban is 13.4%, similar to 2018. But among respondents who express sympathy for the Taliban, the proportion who say they don’t know why they feel this sympathy has increased four-fold, from 6.2% in 2018 to 28.6% in 2019. According to the poll, Taliban support peaks in the Pashtun heartlands of the South-West (27%), but is much lower in the territories of the old Northern Alliance (10-11%) and in Kabul (8%). In Bamiyan, the Hazara-dominated province famous for the eponymous Buddhist statues blown up by the old Taliban – and where yet another statue, to a local leader who was tortured to death by the Taliban in 1995, was blown up just today – Taliban sympathy plummets to just 0.8%. Across ethnic lines, 21% of ethnic Pashtuns are sympathizers, falling to 14% amongst Uzbeks, and 7% amongst Tajiks and the Hazara. Furthermore, when Taliban sympathizers were asked why they sympathized with them, the most common answer by far was that “they are Afghans” (45%). The second most popular answer (29%) was “I don’t know”. Only something like 5% gave answers touching on “Islamic law” and the like. There is an overwhelming endorsement of female suffrage, with only 10% of both men and women opposing it. Even more remarkably, and that is something I certainly did not expect to see, is that there is even net marginal support for women being able to run for the Presidency (49% support, 46% oppose). https://www.unz.com/akarlin/taliban-rule-is-the-democratic-will-of-13-of-afghans/ ............................................................................ 9-30-21 Zakariullah, sitting on a dirt road in the trading town of Spin Boldak only a few hundred metres from Pakistan, says he has been turned back more than half a dozen times, sometimes violently. “They say only people from the area with papers,” Zakariullah, a 25-year-old farmer and father of three, told AFP on the weekend. “We want to cross the border to work there because there are no jobs here.” The new Taliban rulers insist Afghans need to stay and rebuild their conflict-ravaged country. “They tell people ‘It’s your country. You should not leave’,” said 25-year-old Rahmadin Wardak, who was also trying to flee. On the other side their Pakistani counterparts in Chaman were also stopping those attempting to cross. “Every day, 8,000 to 9,000 people try to cross the border without having the necessary papers, and are turned back,” one Taliban border guard, Mullah Maulvi Haqyar, told AFP. https://www.channelstv.com/2021/09/30/escape-hopes-dashed-for-thousands-of-afghans-at-taliban-crossing/ ............................................................