Afghan Taliban fighters enjoy fairground rides, pirate ship a hit
- Taliban fighters in a playful mood as they enjoy rides at a fairground in Kabul
- The Islamist hardliners swept to power in mid-August as US forces pulled out
“This is Afghanistan!” a Taliban fighter shouts on a pirate ship ride at a fairground in western Kabul, as his armed comrades cackle and whoop on board the rickety attraction.
With AK-47 and M4 assault rifles strapped to their chests, the soldiers cling to colourful steel benches as they are flung back and forth, their scarves and headdresses flapping in the wind.
It was decided that a rocket launcher one of them was earlier cradling was better left on solid ground.
The group – ranging in age from 18 to 52 – is relaxing at a small amusement park next to Qarghah Reservoir on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, where families and children normally ride the Ferris wheel and carousel.
The scene is an incongruous one: the Taliban fighters were in a playful mood in the capital they seized less than six weeks ago.
Since then, Afghans have feared a return to the group’s brutally oppressive rule of the 1990s, when they banned music, photography, television – and even children’s games such as kite-flying.