The mind-set of the Taleban

An Afghan psychiatrist speaks about the mind-set of the Taleban in an interview.

A journalist from the Los Angeles Times carried out an interview with Dr. Nader Alemi, who worked as a psychiatrist in Mazar-i-Sharif. He received many Taleban in his consulting rooms during their three-year stronghold over the city.

Alemi describes the Taleban as “warriors”, claiming that they were more nervous than mad. He said that the majority of them were tired of war and wanted to go back home to their families, whereas a handful of senior Taleban had serious psychiatric disturbances.

He remembers a senior commander who had suicidal tendencies. “I remember a Taleban commander who told me he had never had a sunny day in his life. Every time he went to battle, and it was an important general, he wanted someone to shoot him dead”.

Dr. Alemi declared that the Taleban needed mood elevators, not weapons. He also spoke of the most powerful Taleban commander in the north of the country, Aktar Osmani, a close friend of Mullah Omar, the spiritual leader of the Taleban. Osmani was suffering an acute crisis, in which he was hearing voices – a symptom of schizophrenia.

With the Taleban gone, Dr. Alemi now has to treat the traumatised civilians of Mazar-i-Sharif, after years of medieval cruelty being imposed for non-existent crimes.

Timofei BYELO PRAVDA.Ru