The infectious charm of the jihad, and the winning, well-reasoned arguments of the proponents of Sharia, shine through in this.
"Taliban’s latest threat: cutting off noses and ears to anyone who dares voting," from Asia News, August 17 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):
Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The latest threats issued by the Taliban to disrupt next Thursday’s presidential election include “suicide attacks against polling stations” and cutting off “noses and ears of those who vote”, this according to leaflets left in the southern part of the country, but also to a lesser extent in Kabul. Equally attacks have been stepped up against the military but especially the civilian population.“We are using new tactics targeting election centres,” Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said....
To be fair, I wonder why the Taliban are even bothered enough to intimidate voters; the public has no democratic choice from a wide array of candidates supported by an impartial media. The Taliban may be nominally out of power but their legacy is very much still alive.
On a similar note, who's going to watch the Panorama program on Al Beebeeceera at 8.30 tonight? It's supposed to be about how the condition of women in Afghanistan hasn't improved a jot despite military efforts there. I hope that it's honest and informative and not the cringing apologia we've come to expect from the BBC...
“We are using new tactics targeting election centres,...”
More threats of violence, death and mayhem from the "Land of the Lost."
(I would actually claim that the Sleestak are/were more civilized than these barbarous subhuman taliban cavemen.)
Threatening to cut off noses and ears? ...ah, the true face of Islam Mohammedan style.
Give all the voters guns.
Problem solved.
Where are the Chinese with their crappy AK-47
knockoffs?
When there is no more room in hell, the Taliban will walk the earth...
Why is the voting charade anyway?
They have already voted last time for an Islamic state with sharia and a despot.
Now when they have voted, they will still have an Islamic state with sharia and a despot.
Not what anyone would describe as a change.
The Taliban knows that. But, it is a good excuse for a bit of mayhem and blood letting.
Who says there is no fun in Islam?
This is their kind of fun.
Shows how stupid they are. Voting and democracy are Jihad's best friend.
It's not just the Taliban. It's anywhere Islam exists.
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia: "The Democratic system that is predominant in the world is not a suitable system for the peoples of our region… The system of free elections is not suitable to our country."
Cutting off noses and ears........
Perhaps so the Afghanis cannot hear the jackboots of the jihad or smell the foul reek of facism.
The Taliban is afraid of anyone who can think for themselves...
I thought islam was compatible with democracy, not that Afghanistan is a democracy by any stretch of the imagination. A country ruled by islamic law cannot be democratic, so why the charade? The rules are written in stone and no elected official can change those rules. So the elected officials are merely the enforcers of islamic law. Who cares? The Taliban is in charge so it doesn't much matter who wins the elections; the Afghan people are screwed regardless.
But first the Taliban cut out their own hearts and brains...
Taliban threatens to cut off nose and ears of anyone who dares to vote
.....................
Not exactly "purple fingers", is it? (that was the symbol of Iraqi voting, back in the early, heady days when the US believed it could bring democracy to Muslim countries)
And yet, will anger at the Taliban over this savagery be as great as anger at the US over accidental civilian deaths, which the Americans are at great pains to avoid? I wouldn't count on it.
Several posters above wondered why the Taliban is so incensed over voting in Afghanistan, when it is largely a charade, in any case--I believe that even the vague appearance of democracy offends the most "Islamically pure".
They believe that the only proper road to Muslim power is through sheer force--of arms, of assassination, of palace coup--and that this savage form of determining a "leader" is sanctioned by Allah.
Where could they have gotten such a barbaric idea? From that warlord, the "Prophet" Muhammed, and the bloodstained legacy of the "rightly guided" Caliphs who followed after his death.
OT: I miss ID. For the present story there are only thirteen comments before this one, whereas I believe there would have been many more than thirteen under ID, as commenters could post replies directly to other comments and bat them back and forth until having to leave for dinner or work or running out of things to say. I miss having easy access to all comments from particular posters and the ability to go directly to comments in a story without having to laboriously search story by story. I miss receiving notifications when someone replied to my comments, even if it had been from a week earlier.
I hope JW figures out what the problem was with ID, fixes it, and puts us back on this system as soon as possible. I would rather not have to be reminded what the all the problems with TypePad that led to abandoning it in the first place.