The Battle of Maiwand and the Taliban’s Tarani

This study analyzes the post-September 11 Taliban’s discourse, exploring particularly the sujet of the battle of Maiwand (July 27, 1880) in the Taliban’s tarani (pl. of tarana “chant, song”). After providing a brief history of the post-September 11 conflict in Afghanistan, the paper examines Afghanistan’s experience of colonialism in the 19th century by discussing the Anglo-Afghan wars, with a focus on the battle of Maiwand and its importance in the modern history of Afghanistan. This study takes a postcolonial and postmodernist approach to discourse analysis. Using a postmodernist approach, the author tried to understand how the Taliban saw the post-September 11, 2001 conflict, and how they legitimized their actions. This study concludes that the Taliban used Afghanistan’s past experience of colonialism in their discourse. In fact, they refer to the historical events and personalities, those led resistance against colonial powers in the 19th century, for propaganda purposes. In addition, the paper shows that the colonial past is an important factor in the success or failure of interventions and peacekeeping missions, particularly in Afghanistan

Afghan · Ancient history · Battle · Central asia · Colonialism · Political science · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Terrorism · History · Law · Military History and Strategy · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence