Kabul:
Taliban soldiers cradling AK-47s and M16 assault rifles mingle amongst households at Kabul Zoo, a novelty expertise for several of the young fighters from rural Afghanistan.
As guests set up picnic spots in the shaded grounds, enjoying ice creams and salted pomegranate seeds, heavily armed Taliban gunmen peer into the enclosures housing lions, leopards, camels, wolves, ostriches and macaques.
After years of fighting in the countryside, the capture of the capital was the initially time several had entered a huge city, let alone a zoo.
They take selfies and pose for group photographs, but the relative tranquillity is upended abruptly when one of them grabs a deer by its antlers and his close friends roar with laughter.
Posing With Rifles
After Friday prayers, scores of armed Taliban fighters turn out — and several more are without the need of weapons — wearing conventional hats, turbans and shawls. Some sported the eye makeup well known amongst Afghan guys.
One Taliban member, 40-year-old Abdul Qadir, who now functions for the interior ministry, mentioned he was sightseeing with a group of male close friends.
“I really like the animals, especially those which can be found in our country,” he says. “I like lions very much.”
Asked about the armed presence — unheard of in other zoos about the world — he says the Taliban have been in favour of barring guns from the venue so that “children or women should not feel scared”.
The zoo was lengthy a haven for girls, children and young lovers in a capital that has tiny public space for any individual but guys.
A unit of six armed guys from the Taliban’s intelligence directorate — wearing complete military fatigues, combat webbing bursting with ammunition and steel handcuffs, peaked caps and knee pads — huddle for a group image with a turbaned mullah.
The designated photographer coordinates the shot, which is closely examined by the group afterwards.
A thumbs-up from one of the fighters, with a Taliban flag poking out of his magazine pouch, shows their approval.
Later, a distinct group of gunmen supply their rifles to boys as young as eight, who take snaps with their mobile phones.
‘No Guns In The Zoo’
The showpiece is a lion, named just “White Lion”, which sleeps on a deck in its enclosure, measuring about 20 metres by 30 metres.
The zoo’s most-treasured occupant was Marjan, a male lion who was a symbol of Afghan survival living by means of coups, invasions, civil war and the Taliban’s initially rule, till he died in 2002.
A bronze statue of the significant cat, when injured by a grenade attack, greets guests on their way in, whilst a plaque on its grave reads: “Here lies Marjan, who was about 23. He was the most famous lion in the world.”
Another well known attraction is the aquarium and reptile property, exactly where girls in niqabs, burqas and hijabs shepherd young girls and boys about the tanks.
A python is coiled up in a huge glass enclosure as goldfish, catfish and turtles swim about in tanks lining the walls.
Samir, who is in Kabul waiting to return to London exactly where he lives, is at the zoo with his young son and nephew.
He says they have been possessing “a very hard time” considering that the Taliban came to energy in mid-August.
“We didn’t expect (the Taliban) to come so quickly. It’s quite peaceful in Kabul, but the thing is, the way they are, people don’t feel safe.”
Nestled among steep hills and next to the Kabul River, entry to the zoo expenses 40 cents for Afghans, while some Taliban soldiers stroll in without the need of paying, flagrantly disregarding the sign saying “No Guns in the Zoo”.
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