Talking While Fighting, with a Taliban Military Commander

It was the second time I’d met and interviewed this Taliban commander. I refer to him in the podcast as Ismael. The first time, several weeks ago, he didn’t want me to record our conversation. It did, however, give me the opportunity to obtain the kind of information I needed to be confident that he was who he said he was.Ismael and I spoke in a provincial capital—a government-controlled area. It had taken him half a day of travel there and he was about to lie down to sleep when I arrived, but he insisted we start the interview straight away. I started by asking him about the early days of the the American-led invasion in 2001 and about why he decided to take up a weapon. We talk about his experience fighting the Americans and about the time he was captured during an American night raid.Then we move ahead to more recent years, to the time when talks between American and Taliban representatives began in Doha in 2018, continued through to February this year—2020—and culminated in the signing of an agreement between the two sides which, it was hoped, would pave the way to bringing an end to the war.We talk about the violence that has continued since then, despite the rhetoric of peace, about the existence of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, the changes for those living in areas under Taliban control since American air power was curtailed after the Doha Agreement, and about the changes he wants to see come as a result of the talks currently underway in Doha between the Taliban and representatives of the Afghan republic. I asked him about the fears that ethnic minorities and women have about a return of the Taliban and how a Taliban military commander like him could come and go from government-controlled provincial capitals so freely. I have to say that Ismael was more restrained with a microphone in front of him than he was the first time we spoke. So, bear in mind while you're listening that he is speaking very much to official Taliban talking points.