The Taliban are joining Afghanistan’s fight against covid-19

THE OFFICIAL in charge of the Afghan government’s response to covid-19 in a rural district near the city of Herat recently received a dressing-down by phone. The caller berated him for the lack of masks at a particular clinic. Local bureaucrats needed to get their act together quickly, the caller instructed. The man delivering the rebuke was not some big cheese from the ministry of health in Kabul, however, but a member of the Taliban, the rebels who have been trying to overthrow the government since 2001, when they themselves were ousted from power by American-backed forces.

The Taliban’s war with the American-backed regime is waged not just by force of arms, but also by vying to administer the country better. The insurgents pride themselves on their probity, in contrast to widespread corruption within the government. They extract only fixed “tolls” from truck drivers passing through areas under their control, for example, in contrast to the frequent and fluctuating payments demanded by government forces. Many Afghans prefer to seek justice from Taliban judges, who are seen as harsh but swift and clean, than in the slow and crooked government courts. The Taliban also appoint officials to oversee services such as health care and education in the big expanses of the countryside where they have more sway than the government.

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