Comparison with Pashtunwali

Abstract

A passage of the Layeha says: “The Mujahids have the duty to behave well with people in accordance with Islamic ethic and moral values.”.¹ In the Layeha, the religious allusion is more than obvious, and accordingly, various observers were quick to compare the Layeha with Islamic law.² Another possibility of normative reference is Pashtunwali, literally “the way of the Pashtuns” or the Pashtun’s moral conduct, which glorifies bravery, pride, and manhood.³ This feature is, for example, reflected in the following passage: “You should stand before the enemy as steel; events and propaganda should not shake your persistence.”⁴ This chapter and the following one thus hypothesize that the Layeha makes use of Islamic law and Pashtunwali in order to gear the Taliban toward behavior in line with the expectation of the external audience. Apart from Pashtunwali and Islamic law, there might well be other norms, such as pre-Islamic natural religion or Sufism, but the former two seem to show the highest degree of regulation and are the most relevant norms applicable to the armed conflict in Afghanistan today.