Queen's University Belfast - Taliban Turbans and The Smartphone.
Queen's University Belfast presents a recorded lecture or discussion examining the Taliban, turbans, and the smartphone. The talk likely explores intersections of tradition, technology, and culture in Afghanistan or broader Islamic contexts. Produced by the university's podcasting service, it is part of their academic outreach. The episode appears to offer an insightful academic perspective on contemporary issues.
Episodes
SERIES 2, EPISODE 3 “Emirate versus Khilafat –the ISKP critique of the Taliban”
Podcast series on Afghanistan, presented by Prof. Michael Semple with Tamim Asey.
For researchers of the Taliban, the ISKP campaign is significant not just because of the horrendous violence, but because it deploys Islamist rhetoric and reasoning against the Taliban. Perhaps much of the Taliban leadership worries more about what ISKP says about them than they would worry about any number of Securi
Series 3, Episode 2– “How inclusive is the Islamic Emirate? - Who are the men running the Taliban’s administration?”
The report submitted to the UN Security Council by Special Coordinator Feridun Sinirlioghlu laid out a plan for national dialogue and talks to achieve an inclusive national administration, as well as restoring women’s rights. The plan thus doubles down on inclusivity as one of the prerequisites for normalising Afghanistan’s relations with the international community. But the Taliban have denied th
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 3, Episode 6
Doha 3 Conference – Opportunity or distraction”.
In this episode, we discuss the manoeuvring around the UN-led Doha 3 conference planned for 30 June and 1 July, exploring the challenges of advancing political dialogue while the Emirate leadership rules out compromise on rights and political participation.
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 4, Episode 1
Season 4, Episode 1 - “Emirate Studies – what every Talib is meant to know about their movement”. We discuss a new book, entitled Emirate Studies and published in Pashto. It is written by a Taliban member of the insurgency-era Culture Commission. Emirate Studies presents the latest official Taliban’s perspective of Afghan history, the anti-Soviet jihad, the post-2001 insurgency, the Taliban’s peri
Taliban Turbans and smart phones - Episode 7, Series 3
“Speaking up and pushing back – is there space for civic resistance in Afghanistan?”
The episode considers recent examples of Afghans in the country who have criticised Taliban policies and their Islamic Emirate or protested against them. We have assumed for a while that engaging in public criticism is well nigh impossible under Taliban authoritarianism. Do recent signs of unrest force us to reco
Taliban turbans and smartphones
Series 2, Episode 8. Do the Taliban have an economic policy and if so, what is it?
We try to make sense of what the Taliban have been doing to the Afghan economy, piecing together their economic policy. They aspire to a form of self-reliance, which they have pursued through revenue collection. But they are more focused on rewarding members for their jihad than growing the economy.
Taliban turbans and smartphones
Series 2, Episode 7.
Is there internal dissent in the Taliban Movement and does it matter?
We address the Islamic Emirate’s internal politics, considering the factional tussles and differences over ideology and tactics within the movement. What does these differences and perspectives between the Taliban factions tell us about the prospects for a change in the Emirate’s hard-line policies?
Taliban turbans and smartphones
Series 2, Episode 6 - The evolving role of the Taliban's Amir, from state capture to state transformation?
Starting with a look at Haibatollah's Eid message, we reflect on the Amir's increasing direct involvement in appointments and decisions and ask whether the Taliban have progressed from capturing the Afghan state to transforming it.
Taliban turbans and smartphones
Season 2, Episode 5. In this episode, Michael and Tamim discuss the implications of the Islamic Emirate extending its ban on women's work to the United Nations' Afghan employees
Taliban turbans and smartphones
Season 2, Episode 2: The Qosh Tippa canal project – threat to ethnic harmony or doomed vanity project?”
The Taliban Movement is basically famous for two things – for waging armed jihad and for imposing an austere moral code. Today we try to explain how this Islamist Movement has involved itself in digging a canal across the plains of northern Afghanistan. The Qosh Tippa Canal is a mega project –
Taliban turbans and smartphones
EPISODE 6 – The peace process
In seizing Kabul, the Taliban collapsed the Islamic republic under which Afghanistan has been governed for twenty years. They also collapsed the peace process, abruptly ending three years of intense efforts by the US to broker a settlement between the Afghan conflicting parties. But the conflict in Afghanistan is not over and all the key questions around the country’s
Taliban turbans and smartphones
EPISODE 5 – The armed conflict
The Taliban’s uncontested capture of Kabul did not end armed conflict in Afghanistan. A year on, the Taliban find themselves fighting two insurgencies. In the mountains of the north a “National Resistance Front” is fighting against the Taliban’s Islamic authoritarianism. In Kabul and the cities Daesh, is waging a bloody campaign, accusing the Taliban of being worldly
Taliban turbans and smartphones
EPISODE 4 Humanitarian assistance, the state of the media and the Taliban’s quest for recognition.
The Taliban leaders expected that the international community would soon accept the reality of the change of rulers in Kabul. They counted on prompt diplomatic recognition to open up access to the international finance needed to run Afghanistan. Instead, no country has recognised the Islamic Emirate
Taliban turbans and smartphones
Episode 3: In this episode, we again take a pair of issues – firstly the state of human rights under the Taliban and secondly the exodus of Afghans from their country triggered by the Taliban takeover. The human rights crisis and the mass exodus from the country are each significant aspects of Afghan experience. They are also intricately related. Egregious human rights abuses conducted by Taliban
Taliban Turbans and Smartphones
In forcing their way into Kabul on the 15th of August 2021, the Taliban took control of the Afghan state. In this episode we consider what the Taliban have done with the state; the extent to which they have pursued radical transformation or continuity. And what has Taliban statecraft meant for Afghans living under Taliban rule and for the Afghan economy. Features guest interview with a veteran Tal
Taliban Turbans and Smartphones
Episode 1: Victory and Collapse. Prof Michael Semple of Queen’s University, Belfast, explores how Afghan perspectives have been shaped by the Taliban being in power for a year. Prof Semple speaks with analyst Tamim Asey and also social media analyst Wahdat Wassel.
Taliban Turbans and Smartphones - Season 2 Episode 12
Season 2 - Episode 12. This episode considers the effectiveness of the Amir’s April 2022 decree banning the narcotics trade in the light of the latest international reports on Afghan opiates and crystal meth.
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 2 Episode 14
“A cultural counter-revolution - Haibatollah’s flagship jihadi madrassahs?”
This episode considers the Taliban leader’s initiative to establish and fund new madrassahs in all of Afghanistan’s provinces. It sets out the differences between designated jihadi madrassahs and the many other madrassahs operating in Afghanistan. Describes the Taliban leaders’ ambition to train a whole new generation of
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 2 Episode 15
“Afghanistan after the Americans, an overview of the Emirate and Afghan responses to it.”
In the final episode of series 2, we stock-take on the Taliban’s progress in building their Islamic Emirate and Afghan responses to it, based on a lecture at Queen’s University Belfast in December 2023
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 2 Episode 9
Season 2, Episode 9: "Emirate Land - what have the Taliban achieved through all their decrees about land and property rights? - a discussion on the Emirate’s efforts to reform land ownership".
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 3 Episode 1
"Is Afghanistan under the Taliban an authoritarian state? and what difference does that determination make?”.
An assessment of the extent to which Taliban governance and politics display the classic hallmarks of an authoritarian system. Consideration of the relevance of good practice guidelines for the response to authoritarianism for Afghans and international actors wondering how to deal with th
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 3 Episode 2
“How inclusive is the Islamic Emirate? - Who are the men running the Taliban’s administration?”
The report submitted to the UN Security Council by Special Coordinator Feridun Sinirlioghlu laid out a plan for national dialogue and talks to achieve an inclusive national administration, as well as restoring women’s rights. The plan thus doubles down on inclusivity as one of the prerequisites for nor
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 3 Episode 4
Season 3, Episode 4 – “Life in struggle, a conversation with Dr. Sima Samar”.
We have a conversation with special guest Dr. Sima Samar on the occasion of the publication of her English memoir “Outspoken My fight for freedom and human rights in Afghanistan”. Dr. Sima tells us about struggle and popular mobilisation as Afghans started to resist the Communist government in 1978. She reflects on the
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 3, Episode 5
Season 3, Episode 5 - “Have the Taliban really succeeded in developing sustainable armed forces for Afghanistan?”.
Prompted by a boast by Emirate Foreign Minister Amir Khan Motaqi, we consider whether the Taliban have achieved a goal which has eluded Afghanistan for two decades – the creation of security forces paid for by Afghan revenues. To answer the question, we look at what the Taliban have
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Season 4, Episode 2
Season, 4, Episode 2 - “Unprecedented? The latest Taliban in-fighting and what it tells us about the state of the Emirate”. We consider the cold war between the Taliban’s Amir and the faction led by Interior Minister Seraj Haqqani. Why Seraj disappeared from view for seven weeks. The issues in dispute – power, resources and policy. What options both sides have. Assessment of the leadership’s prosp
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Series 2 Episode 10
Series 2, Episode 10 – The pre-history of engagement with the Taliban – what UN Special Coordinator, Sinirlioğu should know.
An experienced Turkish diplomat is touring the region as part of his UN Security Council mandated independent assessment of the challenges faced by international actors in Afghanistan. We look for relevant insights from the earliest political engagement with the Taliban, in
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Series 2 Episode 11
Series 2, Episode 11. “Rule of law in the Emirate security sector – will the Amir’s latest decree end decades of torture in Afghanistan’s intelligence agency?”
Amir Haibatollah has signed a decree applying rule of law principles to the operations of the Emirate’s intelligence agency. We do a reality check, looking at the function and operations of the GDI, considering the prospects for ending ende
Taliban turbans and smartphones - Series 2 Episode 13
Season 2, Episode 13 – “What the Middle East conflict reveals about the Taliban”.
This episode considers how Taliban leaders and ranks have responded to the latest round of conflict in the Middle East. Notes that most reports of Taliban volunteering to deploy to the Middle east are products of wishful thinking. But the threat of Taliban and other Afghans being tied into a regional network of Isla
Taliban turbans and smartphones Season 3 Episode 8
Series 3, Episode 8 - “The Taliban’s relations with Afghanistan’s tough region”
The episode considers the Taliban’s performance in managing Afghanistan’s regional relations. It considers their declared strategy, which is economy led, and under which they have opened up for inward investment from the neighbours, in particular China. But the undeclared strategy is shaped by their harbouring of mi
Taliban turbans and smartphones. Season 3 Episode 9
Season 3, Episode 9 - How serious are the Taliban on counter-narcotics policy?
As part of the series of Doha dialogues convened by the UN, a working group on counter-narcotics has been formed. This is supposed to bring together international officials and Emirate representatives. Ahead of another possible round of dialogue this episode does reality check on the Emirate’s track record. We try to r
Taliban turbans and smartphones: Season 2, Episode 1
SERIES 2, EPISODE 1 “Revolutionary decrees and the Taliban’s assault on Afghan women”
The Taliban are now well into a second year of imposing their revived Islamic Emirate on Afghanistan. The Taliban’s Amir, Haibatollah Akhundzada, has published a series of radical decrees which he claims are, step by step, imposing an Islamic system of government and law. In the latest moves, the Taliban have ba
Taliban turbans and smartphones: Season 2, Episode 4
The Hazaras and the Taliban – a reality check on minority rights under the second Emirate. The Hazara ethnic group suffered under the Taliban’s first Islamic Emirate. The Hazarajat region was the first to rebel against that Emirate and the Taliban army burnt down the regional centre Bamyan in revenge. Massacres of Hazara civilians followed. Many feared that there would be a repetition of these eve
Taliban, turbans and smartphones - Season 3 Episode 3
Taliban, turbans and smartphones- Season 3, Episode 3 – “Exploring Taliban political culture – the andiwal system or Taliban comrade networks”
This episode explains the informal comrade networks which Taliban commanders used to mobilise fighters during successive stages of their armed struggle. These networks now constitute an informal power structure operating inside the hierarchy of the Talib
Taliban, turbans and smartphones - Season4, Episode 3
Season 4, Episode 3 - Feuds, job cuts and morality policing – latest developments in the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate and the Afghan response”.
This episode is a catch-up on developments in the Islamic Emirate. Michael and Tamim talk through the harsh realities which the Taliban, the general population and opposition are being forced to confront. The Taliban, struggling with a budget shortfall, are
Taliban, turbans and smartphones season 4, episode 5.
Season 4, Episode 5 - The Ministry for Vice and Virtue
This episode considers the role of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Forbidding of Vice within the Taliban state-building project. We look at the moral code which Vice and Virtue enforcers are charged with policing. We describe the power which V&V men wield within state institutions where they act as ideological commissars. We conc
Taliban, turbans and smartphones season 4, episode 5.
Season 4, Episode 5 - The Ministry for Vice and Virtue.
This episode considers the role of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Forbidding of Vice within the Taliban state-building project. We look at the moral code which Vice and Virtue enforcers are charged with policing. We describe the power which V&V men wield within state institutions where they act as ideological commissars. We conc
Talibans turbans and smartphones Season 4, Episode 4
Season 4, Episode 4. “Taliban transforming the education system”
The Taliban are pursuing an ambitious education policy, covering the country’s schools, madrassahs and universities. As well as excluding girls from secondary and tertiary education, the Taliban have taken an impressive range of measures designed to end western cultural influence and produce a new generation of Afghans who “think li
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