AFGHANISTAN -- The Taliban's 30 simple rules

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A new set of instructions recently went out to Taliban fighters. JASON STRAZIUSO takes a look at the 'rules,' along with a few more suggested by a NATO spokesman.

A Taliban fighter in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/John Moore)

Published Wednesday, December 20, 2006
By JASON STRAZIUSO

Every army needs its rules, and the Taliban is apparently no different.

The ultraconservative militia began distributing a new set of 30 rules to its fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan over the fall, proffering a grim view of a Talib's duty.

The regulations range from the organizational (No. 9: No jihad equipment may be used for personal means) to the health-conscious (No. 18: No smoking).

Some rules hint at a group of fighters that might actually respect human rights: Rules 15-17 nominally forbid tormenting innocent people, searching homes or taking money or personal belongings.

But other rules openly advertise the militia's cruel ways and help explain why 20 teachers have been murdered this year in Afghanistan: Rule No. 25 says teachers must be warned, then beaten, and then killed if they continue to teach.

Right behind it, Rule No. 26 says aid organizations and the projects they undertake -- new roads, schools or clinics -- are not to be tolerated. It also spells out that schools must be burned, explaining why close to 200 schools have been attacked in Afghanistan this year.

Rule No. 19 says fighters may not take young boys without facial hair into their private quarters -- a public acknowledgment, NATO officials say, that the sexual abuse of young boys is a problem within the Taliban's ranks.

"The rule regarding behavior toward young boys shows this has been a problem," NATO spokesman Maj. Luke Knittig says.

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NATO'S AMENDMENTS

After watching the rules make their rounds in the region, NATO's top spokesman in Afghanistan, Mark Laity, offered up a few additions of his own to Afghan and Western reporters attending a news conference last week.

Laity, who's nicknamed the rules "The Book of Disgrace," said the Taliban edicts are extremely revealing, "because they actually admitted they were to kill teachers and systematically block clinic- and madrassa-building." (A madrassa is a religious school.)

Laity says his extra rules give you the whole story of the Taliban's repressive tactics, including the fact that the 115 suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year have killed far more civilians than the Afghan or Western security forces they were aimed at.

"When you looked at (the set of rules) you knew it wasn't the full story," the NATO spokesman said. "The 30 rules told you part of the story. The extra five told you the whole story."

Laity says that while his five additions are fictional, they represent the Taliban's actions just as much as their rules mandating the killing of teachers.

"While the extra rules are made up, the actions I'm referring to are sadly all too real," he says.

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THE ADDITIONS

Here are rules No. 31-35, as proposed by Laity:

Rule 31: Suicide bombings will be a standard tactic and indiscriminate killing of civilians is regarded as irrelevant. However Taliban should not talk about this publicly because it is offensive to Afghan culture and morality.

Rule 32: In order to protect ourselves from ISAF forces, Taliban should hide amongst civilians and as a standard tactic use women and children as shields against attacks.

Rule 33: Taliban should have no hesitation about abusing Afghan hospitality by using intimidation to force their way into citizens' homes.

Rule 34: Taliban should further exploit Afghan hospitality by using their homes as bases to launch attacks on ISAF and Afghan forces.

Rule 35: Taliban should lie to the public to both exaggerate their successes and minimize their failures.

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Jason Straziuso is an AP reporter based in Kabul.

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http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2006/12/american_islami.html

December 26, 2006 American Islamic "Youth Mentor" Tied to HAMAS, Fired by Even Ex-Rep. McKinney Printer Friendly By Debbie Schlussel Much is being made of Muslim U.S. Congressman-elect Keith Ellison's speech, this weekend, at the Dearbornistan annual convention of the Muslim American Society (the Muslim Brotherhood) and the jihadist Islamic Circle of North America. But not much mention has been made of another speaker at the event, Raeed Tayeh. Billed as a national "Muslim youth mentor" and speaking on "Intimidation at School: How to Deal with It," Tayeh is an odd choice . . . or perhaps a deliberate one. I know of Tayeh well because in 2002, I debated him on both FOX News' "O'Reilly Factor" and MSNBC's "Hardball," when he was leading a worldwide Muslim boycott of Starbucks on the "grounds" that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is Jewish and had denounced anti-Semitism. Tayeh was also promoting Caribou Coffee, owned by mostly Saudis and employing high-level officers who support homicide bombings of Jews and American soldiers in Iraq. Raeed Tayeh: Extremist, National Muslim Youth Mentor At the time, Tayeh was the spokesman for a sketchy organization called American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice, which had ties to Al-Qaeda and an extremist Southern California mosque and was reportedly rejected by the IRS in its attempts to get 501(c)(3) status. The organization and its website have since disappeared. I saw Tayeh, again, in 2004, just after several Americans were beheaded by Muslims in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. He was MCing a Dearbornistan fundraiser for HAMAS-front charity Islamic Relief Worldwide, at which the "entertainment" was young Muslim American boys wearing American, British, and Israeli flags simulating beheadings on each other. Tayeh, a former employee of the HAMAS-front group Islamic Association for Palestine, worked for several organizations tied to Islamic terrorist organizations and his activities are well-known in support of anti-Semitism. Even wacko ex-Rep. Cynthia McKinney a/k/a "Jihad Cindy" fired Tayeh in November 2001 for writing an anti-Semitic letter to Capitol Hill newspaper, "The Hill," questioning the loyalty of Jewish Members of Congress and the Senate. Before that, he was filmed at a pro-HAMAS, pro-Hezbollah rally in front of the Clinton White House shouting statements about how Palestine was "from the river to the sea" (ie., all of Israel). Also of note, Tayeh was a "mediator" on behalf of convicted terrorist Fawaz Abu Damrah (see also, here), Imam of the Cleveland Mosque, who deservedly now rots in jail. Tayeh is, indeed, an interesting choice for a "mentor" for anyone. That these Muslim organizations would choose this open supporter of terrorism, jihad, and bigotry to "mentor" their kids, tells us everything we need to know about them. And everything we already knew. Posted by Debbie at December 26, 2006 01:03 PM