Strolling through the city of Maymana, the new mayor seems to arouse goodwill from the war-weary voters in the Afghan provincial capital.
But Damullah Mohibullah Mowaffaq has a reputation as one of the top snipers in the ranks of the Taliban, who waged war to take control of the country until last summer.
Mowaffaq was appointed mayor of Maymana, the capital of Faryab province in the far reaches of northwestern Afghanistan, in November, three months after the Taliban ousted the Western-backed government and seized power.
He became known as a fighter, but now his agenda is filled with the day-to-day tasks of the local government: unblocking sewers, building roads and smoothing out neighborhood disputes.
His move reflects the broader transformation the Taliban is undergoing as the insurgents struggle with territory management.
“When I was fighting, my objectives were very specific: to end the foreign occupation, discrimination and injustice,” the 25-year-old told AFP.
“Now my goals are also clear: to fight corruption and make the country prosperous.”
‘Ups and downs’
While walking through the streets of Maymana, the new mayor talks to municipal workers who are clearing roadsides.
Residents of the city of 100,000 come with complaints and suggestions, which are dutifully added to an ever-growing to-do list.
“The new mayor is young, well-educated and, most importantly, from the city,” said his non-Taliban deputy, Sayed Ahmad Shah Gheyasi.
“He knows how to deal with people.”
Unlike the poor, madrassa-educated rural men who make up the Taliban, Mowaffaq comes from a family of wealthy merchants and grew up in Maymana, where he excelled in school and sports.
Memorabilia from his childhood adorn his office, including a certificate from a martial arts competition and his high school diploma.
After joining the uprising at age 19, he was promoted to command a small unit deployed in Faryab province.
Others describe him as one of the Taliban’s most talented snipers, although he does not like to be involved in telling war stories.
But on a walk with AFP, he stops in front of a house smeared with ammunition markings near the village of Doraye Khoisja Qoshre, where his unit once held sway.
This is where he hid, scouring the American troops with his rifle and improving his reputation as a bull’s eye.
“He killed an American with his rifle from this house, then a plane came and bombed him,” said Saifaddin, a local farmer who, like many in Afghanistan, has only one name.
While it cannot be confirmed that Mowaffaq was responsible, the United States announced in mid-2019 that a member of its special forces had been killed in fighting in Faryab.
A year earlier, the Afghan Analysts Network said Maymana was “practically under siege” because of “an astonishingly widespread Taliban presence.”
Mowaffaq witnessed the killing of several comrades in combat, but remains evasive about the horrors he both inflicted and suffered.
“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs,” he says.
Unconventional Totem
The United Nations and human rights groups have accused the Taliban of gross human rights violations since they took power in August.
The deaths of more than 100 members of the former government or security forces have been blamed on the country’s new rulers, while women activists have been detained and journalists beaten for covering their protests.
The Taliban ideal of a thick beard and a black turban frames Mowaffaq’s face, but in many ways he is an unconventional totem of their austere ideology.
Nationally, Islamists have effectively expelled women from public spaces, excluded older girls from education and largely excluded the opposite sex from the workplace.
But in Mowaffaq’s office, female employees are allowed to continue working and a public garden in the city has been set aside for them.
Under the first Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001, the comprehensive burqa was compulsory for women.
This time, the religious police have stopped making the same dictation, even though they have ordered women in the capital to cover their faces.
In Maymana’s mayor’s office, “no one tells us how to dress,” said Qahera, his 26-year-old female director of human resources, who wears a hijab that conforms to current dress codes.
The lightning-fast takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban surprised even the members of the movement.
Their efforts to run the country are crippled by sheer inexperience, brain drain, a humanitarian crisis and pressure from Western powers who have frozen assets.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)