MOHAMMED ISSA is president of the Afghan Watan Party (AWP), which ruled Afghanistan for four years after Soviet troops withdrew in 1988. Issa was interviewed by Dr AMJAD AYUB for the Pakistan weekly Struggle.
Question: What is the situation in Afghanistan following the rise to power of the Taliban?
Since 1992, human rights in the country have been denied. In the name of Islam, the Taliban practice brutality. The AWP has always favoured freedom of the people and has waged struggles to protect it. We are opposed to war and violence but, unfortunately, for 20 years, politics in Afghanistan has been dominated by both.
Two million people have died so far and 50,000 of our best comrades have become revolutionary martyrs in this period. War has brought no solutions to the problems we confront, only tragedy, ruin and destruction to our civilisation.
We do not support the idea of using war to achieve political goals. We would rather mobilise people in political activities to expose the brutality being committed by these butchers of civilisation who call themselves the "seekers of knowledge", which is the meaning of taliban.
Question: The Taliban control most of the country. What is your party's strategy to free Afghanistan without fighting a war?
The lesson we have learned from history is that the domination of guns and bullets in any political culture cannot last for long. One cannot rule over the masses at gunpoint forever.
People are fed up with the Taliban regime. Since the beginning of 1998, there have been numerous demonstrations against the Taliban in the cities of Mazar Sharif, Jalabad, Kabul and even in Kandahar, from where the psychopath Mullah Umar, leader of the Taliban, runs the country.
In April 1998, the AWP and other progressive groups organised a large demonstration in Mazar Sharif. More than 2000 people from all walks of life marched towards the office of the interior ministry to demand free elections and the withdrawal of the Taliban army from the city. The army ordered its troops to open fire to disperse the demonstration, killing eight demonstrators.
In August, there was a serious plan for an uprising in Kabul. The Taliban found out and began to arrest people. Though the effort was crushed, the residents of the war-torn city knew about the plan. Even the thought of defiance is an encouragement.
In October, our party planned to hold a large demonstration in Kandahar. When Mullah Umar found out, he fired every person working in the government offices. Most of them were arrested, carefully scrutinised and a number were shot. Among those who died were some of our party's well-known activists.
After the incident in Kandahar, the Taliban became nervous and decided to send emergency troops to Jalabad. The Taliban army made a lot of random arrests. Among them were some of Afghanistan's popular intellectuals and progressive-minded people. The army decided to take them to Kandahar for interrogation. On the way, detainees were brutally tortured.
Three weeks later, students and teachers at Jalabad University (Pohantun Nangarhar) staged a peaceful procession. The director of the university, a Taliban stooge, called in the military commander of Jalabad.
The commander ordered his troops to fire shots at the lower limbs of the demonstrators. More than 10 students and teachers were seriously injured.
At that point, the demonstrators fought back and the director and the commander had to flee the scene to save their lives. The office of the director was completely smashed. During the night, when all the students and the teachers had gone home, the military raided their houses and made scores of arrests.
Question: What is the future for Afghanistan?
There is no future for Afghanistan under the Taliban. For 20 years Afghanistan has been the centre of revolution and counter-revolution. Now the political consciousness among the people has been raised and they have begun to resist the terrorist methods of the fanatic regime.
The only way forward for our country is national reconciliation on the basis of equal rights to all nationalities. The Taliban cannot deliver that. They are the merchants of death.