War Handwavium

Al Jazeera reports that it has obtained a copy of a “Code of Conduct” book issued by Mullah Omar to the entire Taliban.

One of its rules: “Whenever any official, soldier, contractor or worker of the slave government is captured, these prisoners cannot be attacked or harmed,”

The Taliban have repeatedly used suicide bombings across Afghanistan, the book says that they should be used only on high and important targets.

The book also states that anyone who does not follow these rules are not true Taliban.

Part of the reason for the book could be because Mullah Omar is trying to centralize Taliban power to himself. Currently the Taliban is extremely decentralized. Individual Taliban commanders are basically warlords in one area of Afghanistan or Pakistan. Some are motivated by religious extremism. Some are motivated by their opposition to the official Afghan or Pakistan government. Some are motivated by their opposition to American influence in the area. And some are motivated simply by the attraction of power and money that being a warlord can achieve. The code of conduct book states that anyone who does not follow these rules is not a part of the true Taliban. If a Taliban group is not following these rules, the book states they should be disbanded.

All of which would centralize power under Mullah Omar.

But another reason for these rules might be an effort for the Taliban to win the hearts and minds of the local populations.

One of the reasons the Taliban came to power in the first place was because the power vacuum left after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan allowed warlords to move in and fill the void, and some of these warlords were extremely corrupt. When the Taliban warlords overthrew an extremely corrupt warlord, the locals supported the Taliban. What is happening now is that Taliban itself is becoming corrupt because some of its local commanders are corrupt, kidnapping people for money, operating with little regard for civilian casualties.

This code of conduct book might in part be an attempt to shift the Taliban into something that could win the hearts and minds of the local population again.

Right now, it’s only words. It’s only a book. Only time will reveal whether the local commanders heed these orders or not.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/07/20097278348124813.html