“Hibatullah, Hibatullah, come out of your home!” I cry out of the car. I have this running joke with Shafiq, our driver. Taxi drivers know all the gossip. One time Shafiq was at a gas station and we went shopping and found him eating a full meal with Taliban foot soldiers just chatting and laughing away like these guys were long lost friends.
“Mullah Baradar is back in Kandahar.” he would tell me. I would ask where does he live and tell me more secrets he had learnt. “I give you a raise if you find me Hibatullah, I just want to say hi and grab his photo”. The guy seem rather illusive for the now leader of Afghanistan.
The hotel where we stayed was quite nice though. Hollie had her own room and I shared with Naweed and Shafiq. Journalists came down to Kandahar as well looking for stories having a nights stay in Ghazni. Stef Glinski, Magda and Kaveh shared stories, pictures and a ride down to the Kandahar. Everywhere was easy access now to journey.
We decided to go to Spin Boldak to see the border crossing. It was packed, there were thousands hoping to cross and get to Pakistan. I tried taking pictures but it drew attention. When Hollie and Naweed interviewed people the people massed around them and surrounded them curiously watch. It brought the Taliban who was trying to people to go away, soon they whipped people with a piece of rubber tyre but the people just kept on coming back. I pulled away and looked for Shafiq but he was no where to be found from where he parked. He must of gone for lunch.
Suddenly the Taliban grabbed Naweed and dragged him out of the crowd. I figured I had to give myself up and walk towards them and soon the Taliban had us in a police ranger and drove us to a Taliban headquarters where they held us for several hours trying to work out what we were doing. They seem to think we were spies but then we had our letters and permits.
Soon the Spin Boldak Taliban governor came and he invited to show us the problems of the border. The Pakistanis were halting anyone crossing as well as the food goods as well as people who needed medical treatment.
The Pakistani guards didn’t really like that journalists were by the border but the Taliban didn’t give a shit. They had also brought tanks and large hardware to the border to show they had force to implement their control of the people who wanted to leave.
The governor said he would try to get us Mullah Barader or Hibatullah. Some kid that was with the governor said he saw Hibatullah at the mosque a few weeks ago. The intelligence officer who detained us said he saw Hibatullah a month ago in Kabul. These guys never really got back to us but they did want picture sent to them via whatsapp.
Journeying south we headed to see the mosque of Mullah Omar, the first Taliban Emir and where he started to rally the people to fight against the mujahideen and take Afghanistan for themselves.
The old mullah there gave me his thoughts on various Islamic issues such as suicide bombers to justify it. Some of them didn’t make sense and I asked him where in the Quran or Hadiths and he became lost for words. Most of his mullahsplaining didn’t seem to have references. He did tell us stories though of young Mullah Omar and his son Yaqoob who is now the Minister of Defense.
We heard Mullah Barader who was one of the Prime Minister had a mosque close by and we decided to visit it. It was small humble mosque that maybe fit fifteen people at most. It was interested to learn how these men rose into power from such small tiny village. They amassed thousands to their cause and drove out the corruption and warlords that abused their powers.
Every evening we drove to a cafe where Hollie could smoke a shisha and plot our trips on where to go. Shifaq always found food and settled each day to some sambosas on the street nearby which was delicious. They also made a sambosa out of regular white bread with paneer cheese in the centre, coated in egg and then deep fried. Kinda almost french toast style with hindu cheese.
We gave up for the moment on Hibatullah and headed toward Helmand to see the worst hit areas of Afghanistan when it came to the war and the poppy plantations.