ARZAN KAR / ALIZAI In the middle of the fields, you can see the ruins of houses pierced by bullets from time to time. The drive from the city of Mazar-e-Sharif to the west passes through a sandstone colored landscape.
The region has calmed down after the Taliban came to power in August 2021 – there is no longer a war here against the Afghan army and Western troops.
From the main road we turn towards the village called Arzan Kar. About ten years ago, in addition to Swedes and Germans, you could also have encountered Finnish soldiers here.
The region was peaceful and there were gun battles in the area, the locals say.
visited the villages in Balkh province in August of this year, one year after the Taliban came to power. Most people seem to be reasonably satisfied with the current situation, only the economy worries.
– People were afraid of foreign soldiers, the village elder Asadullah Azim says. He says he remembers that Finnish soldiers also moved in the area.
The Afghanistan survey published by the Foreign Policy Institute (UPI) on Monday maps Finland’s participation in the NATO-led military operation and the country’s reconstruction since 2002.
The leading researcher of the report From Katariina Mustas says that interviews conducted for the study identified that local voices were not heard enough and international intervention was not made with these issues in mind. In practice, local conditions were not understood enough.
– At the same time, it was felt that the needs and interests of the locals were not always the right kind, says Mustasilta. According to the researcher, this represents a fundamental problem.
The security situation in Afghanistan started to deteriorate from 2005 onwards. Mustasilta points out that after this, for understandable reasons, Finnish soldiers entered the locals even less often. The equipment level of the soldiers also increased. This distanced local people from international actors.
– Everyone can wonder what the locals look like when the soldiers, who are said to be there to protect them, move through thousands and hundreds of villages in really big and scary-looking equipment, don’t stay to talk much and seem prepared for the situation themselves.
The house searches annoyed the locals
In areas like Arzan Kar, the extremist Taliban is seen in a very different light than in many other regions, especially in cities.
Northern Afghanistan is mostly the region inhabited by the country’s Tajik and Uzbek minorities. Population groups have traditionally opposed the Taliban movement, which consists mainly of Pathans. In general, in the north, foreign soldiers were viewed positively.
However, the population of the west side of Mazar-e-Sharif is predominantly Pathan. Although not everyone here necessarily supported the Taliban, many had no choice but to cooperate with the movement.
56 years old Haji Lal Muhammad says that he gave the Taliban fighters food when they demanded it. This caused problems with foreign soldiers, the man says.
– Every time they passed through our village, they searched my house, the man says while sitting under a crooked tree in front of his house.
According to the locals, one of the biggest reasons why many opposed the foreign forces here was precisely the house searches. In the extremely old-fashioned Pathan culture, it is impossible to think that strange men would enter the houses, because the women might be there without a scarf.
The Defense Forces tells that Finnish soldiers did not search homes or make arrests in Afghanistan.
UPI’s report does not go into detail about the actions of Finnish soldiers in the region, and in that respect does not bring new information to the public.
Based on ‘s interviews, the memories of the locals are vague, and based on them, it is not possible to conclude what exactly the country’s soldiers visited their home.
Muhammad remembers that during one house search, his hands were tied for about an hour while the soldiers searched his house. The women had been told to leave.
– The soldiers’ behavior was not bad, the man recalls.
Still, the constant searches annoyed Muhammad.
In the end, the man decided to leave the village and move to the more peaceful city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where there was no need to fear house searches.
The locals did not differentiate between soldiers from different countries
At the end of a small dirt path from Muhammad’s place is another sandstone-colored house. Inside lives a Taliban commander who died in the fighting about ten years ago, Yaar Muhammad Inqilab family.
28-year-old Abdul Qadir sits with his uncle, Inqilab’s father, and other relatives on the porch of their house.
– The pain caused by the foreign occupation will remain forever in our hearts, says Qadir.
Here, west of Mazar-e-Sharif, in the municipalities of Charbolak and Chimtal, soldiers from different countries were moving around at the same time. Since 2007, the province of Balkh was the responsibility of the Swedes and Finns. In addition, German and American soldiers could also move in the area.
According to UPI’s research, at the beginning of the 2010s, Finns were constantly involved in firefights.
Some of the locals say they remember Finns patrolling near the local school, which was used as a polling place in the 2009 presidential election.
However, many confuse Americans, Swedes, Germans and Finns with each other. So does Qadirk.
– For us, they were one and the same country that occupied Afghanistan.
According to their own words, the rest of the family did not directly belong to the Taliban. However, they are very pro-Taliban.
According to Qadir, even celebrating the important Islamic holiday Eid was not possible due to the state of war.
– There was no joy in our lives. There was nothing we could do. Now we can live freely, says Qadir.
Near Arzan Kar, there is a village where Abdul Qadir’s cousin, who was part of the Taliban, was killed.
The village of Nowshar Kakar seems to be completely inhabited by the Taliban: there are significantly more Taliban fighters than in other areas and they are local.
The villagers remember how the Taliban commander hiding in the back room of the mosque was killed about ten years ago.
I live next door to the mosque Zameer Khan’s according to him, the operation was large: there were tens of soldiers, maybe even a hundred. Combat helicopters flew over the mosque. According to the man, there were both foreigners and Afghans in the group.
Soldiers from the American special forces and the Afghan army probably arrived there, as these countries were the ones conducting major joint operations.
– We couldn’t leave our houses during the war. We have seen a lot of destruction and experienced losses in this war, says Khan.
The injustices experienced in the war made many people see the Taliban as a lesser evil.
– Everyone got tired of (foreigners’) actions. The war was continuous, they harassed us and maimed us. We were between the Taliban and the foreigners. (Foreigners) did not help us at all, Muhammad Qasim, the local pharmacist says.
However, a water pump has been built in front of the mosque, apparently by foreigners or at least financed by international aid.
According to Mustasilla, many studies show that in certain areas the locals became very suspicious of foreigners due to actions that appeared to be contradictory.
– One day, a village is bombed, people considered to be Taliban or persons linked to al-Qaeda are arrested or killed, and they act in a very warlike manner. Then the next day they will ask what you need here, he points out.
We are leaving the village.
– Don’t tell them everything, that the foreigners just won’t come back, one man tells the other.
The opening video of the story: Men pray at the grave of Taliban commander Yaar Muhammad Inqilab in the village of Arzan Kar. Video: Junaid Nawab