Of all nationalist movements, the Taliban is perhaps the most notorious and feared one. In a recent conversation with a Pakistani friend at a Ramadan party, my assumptions were mostly confirmed. The controversy surrounding the Taliban is undeniably warranted, given its history of attacks on its opponents and merciless executions of those with dissenting opinions. However, in order to judge those who become participants of the Taliban movement, one must also recognize their humanity and accept the fact that they are, indeed, human beings as well. This paper considers an interview with a member of the Taliban movement.
When considering the Taliban movement as a group of people with highly controversial goals and even more questionable methods of achieving them, one should also admit that the source of bias toward the specified group may be implicit. Among the key sources of implicit bias, one should mention both official and social media. While the former may intentionally seek to build resentment toward the Taliban movement in order to further a specific political agenda, the latter may contribute to the prejudice against the Taliban due to the lack of cultural awareness and knowledge about the Taliban.
Admittedly, I had a strongly developed preconception against the Taliban prior to engaging with its member. Having been exposed to a variety of information about the Taliban both in news reports and on social media, I built the perception of the specified group as that of extremists with the lack of concern for the human life. However, even during the interview, when talking with an actual person, who could ostensibly humanize the specified ideas for me, I still could not accept them as a possible alternative to the traditional way of building society (Aronson et al., 2007). Furthermore, after the interview, my idea of Taliban members being indoctrinated into an insane belief system was reinforced.
At the same time, I would lie if I claimed that nothing in my perception of the Taliban and the people who support it changed in the least. Before the activity, I stood firm that the Taliban is a dangerous organization that must not be viewed as an acceptable replacement for a democratic government. During the activity, I have learned to recognize the rationale behind other people’s willingness to join the Taliban and support it. Though I personally would never be on the side of the Taliban, I realized after the activity that the sense of supposed security that their regime promises can be comforting to some people. Specifically, with the focus on orthodox values and an established belief system that has been practiced for centuries, the Taliban leaders appeal to people’s sense of safety rooted in the familiarity of the Taliban doctrine. Despite being an admittedly restrictive and often anti-human-right set of principles, the Taliban standard guarantees its proponents the support and safety that they may have been deprived of for decades, which is why they seek to uphold the proposed values.
Having conducted an interview with the member of the Taliban movement, I have expanded the bandwidth of my understanding and empathy for others. Even though I still consider the Taliban an undeniably terrorist organization that must be disbanded, I have learned that people’s decision to join it is likely to be rooted in the need for security and the decades of intergenerational trauma caused by economic, political, and social disparities, as well as the absence of any opportunities for progress. Therefore, the interview has shown the importance of accepting the humanity of anyone in order to establish a dialogue and start negotiating. To continue investigating my implicit biases against the specified group, I could use social media to engage with the proponents of the Taliban and understand the rationale behind their choice. Based on social psychology, the specified strategy will help understand the target population better since it will imply analyzing people’s personal experiences and, thus, learning their personal connections to Taliban beliefs.
Reference
Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Sommers, S. R. (2007). Social psychology. Pearson Education India.