Battle-hardened Taliban fighters enjoy a day off at amusement park
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[October 09, 2021]
By Jorge Silva and Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam
KABUL (Reuters) - Strolling casually with
their machine guns in hand, Halimi and hundreds of fellow Taliban
fighters enjoyed a rare day off with a visit to a popular waterside
amusement park in Kabul.
Friday's day trip to the sandy shores of the capital's Qargha reservoir
was a welcome break for the fighters after months of conflict and weeks
of security duty since the Taliban took power in mid-August.
"I feel very cheerful about coming to Kabul and being able to visit
Qargha for the first time ... the people welcomed me and my companions
in a brotherly manner," Halimi, 24, a fighter from the central Maidan
Wardak province, told Reuters, asking not to give his full name.
The fighters, who were all heavily armed at the park, sipped tea and
bought snacks from stalls dotted along the shoreline.
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Some queued up to try the amusement park rides, which included a pirate
ship and a flying chairs carousel.
Behind Halimi, Ziaul Haq, 25, also from Maidan Wardak, beamed as he went
for a horse ride.
Most of the fighters had never been to Kabul until the Taliban took
control of the capital on Aug. 15, and some were eager to visit the
amusement park before returning to their duties around the country.
"We're proud to have fought and now they (the Americans) are gone,
that's the most joyful thing we've experienced yet," Halimi said, adding
that he had met a cousin at the park and had a picnic to celebrate the
Taliban's comeback.
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![](../images/100921pics/news_u71.jpg)
Taliban fighters walk down the stairs as they take a day off to
visit the amusement park at Kabul's Qargha reservoir, at the
outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan October 9, 2021.REUTERS/Jorge Silva
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The Taliban waged a 20-year insurgency against a
Western-backed government before returning to power in August after
President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan. Most of its fighters have
known little outside the insurgency.
The fighters are now tasked with ensuring nationwide security, which
has become increasingly fragile following at least three attacks on
religious institutions in the last week.
A suicide bombing on Friday at a mosque in northwestern Afghanistan
killed at least 46 people and injured more than 140.
The attack was claimed by the Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K), a
name taken from the ancient name for the region that includes modern
Afghanistan.
(Editing by Helen Popper)
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