Battle-hardened Taliban fighters take pleasure in a time without work at amusement park – Occasions of India

Taliban fighters stroll down the steps as they take a time without work to go to the amusement park at Kabul’s Qargha reservoir (Reuters)

KABUL: Strolling casually with their machine weapons in hand, Halimi and tons of of fellow Taliban fighters loved a uncommon time without work with a go to to a well-liked waterside amusement park in Kabul.
Friday’s day journey to the sandy shores of the capital’s Qargha reservoir was a welcome break for the fighters after months of battle and weeks of safety responsibility for the reason that Taliban took energy in mid-August.
“I really feel very cheerful about coming to Kabul and having the ability to go to Qargha for the primary time … the individuals welcomed me and my companions in a brotherly method,” Halimi, 24, a fighter from the central Maidan Wardak province, advised Reuters, asking to not give his full identify.
The fighters, who have been all closely armed on the park, sipped tea and acquired snacks from stalls dotted alongside the shoreline.
Some queued as much as strive the amusement park rides, which included a pirate ship and a flying chairs carousel.
Behind Halimi, Ziaul Haq, 25, additionally from Maidan Wardak, beamed as he went for a horse trip.
A lot of the fighters had by no means been to Kabul till the Taliban took management of the capital on Aug. 15, and a few have been keen to go to the amusement park earlier than returning to their duties across the nation.
“We’re proud to have fought and now they (the Individuals) are gone, that is essentially the most joyful factor we have skilled but,” Halimi stated, including that he had met a cousin on the park and had a picnic to have fun the Taliban’s comeback.
The Taliban waged a 20-year insurgency towards a Western-backed authorities earlier than returning to energy in August after President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan. Most of its fighters have recognized little exterior the insurgency.
The fighters at the moment are tasked with guaranteeing nationwide safety, which has change into more and more fragile following a minimum of three assaults on non secular establishments within the final week.
A suicide bombing on Friday at a mosque in northwestern Afghanistan killed a minimum of 46 individuals and injured greater than 140.
The assault was claimed by the Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-Ok), a reputation taken from the traditional identify for the area that features trendy Afghanistan.