The Formation of an Authoritarian Theocratic State

What we are observing in Afghanistan “real-time” day by day is the formation of an authoritarian theocratic state by the Taliban.  No surprises here, but nevertheless interesting (or tragic) depending on whether you have to try and survive under their rule.

It’s interesting because what we are witnessing we have all seen before. Authoritarian revolutions are not new and have precedence in the 20th century as exemplified by the Russian Revolution, the Communist Revolution in China, the Cuban Revolution, and other Marxist revolutions that resulted in authoritarian regimes in Latin America , Africa, and Afghanistan itself with the Saur Revolution of 1978. All of these were underpinned by Marxist ideology (a form of theology itself.) The Iranian Revolution of 1978-1979 comes closest to an authoritarian theocratic regime shaped by a form of messianic Shia Islam that gives it its “theocratic” nature.

As we see happening in Afghanistan, the period following revolutions, or in this case the violent overthrow of a Democratic Islamic Republic, is chaotic and confused as the “revolutionaries”, formerly rural insurgents for 20 years, try to understand and manage the business of government. 

What we’re seeing is the first post-revolution step to control the population through repression and coercion.  In Afghanistan the former constitution, laws, and democratic processes (as imperfect as they were) have all been abolished.  Basic human rights have been eliminated.  Freedom of thought, expression, movement, association, religion, press, and education for women and girls, all gone.  The coercion comes through an enforced violent form of Deobandi Islam buttressed by a strict interpretation of Sharia mediated through Hanafi jurisprudence (as interpreted on the spot by local former insurgent commanders and their advising Mullahs.) When is the last time you saw an image of a Talib without an AK-47?

But, not all revolutions succeed.  Repression does not stand and opposition begins with the innate human longing for freedom.