Green surprise from Taliban

Spring campaign call is about trees rather than death

KABUL // Springtime in Afghanistan usually brings a surge in violence as the Taliban take advantage of the thaw to launch a wave of attacks. But the Taliban’s leader this year issued a statement calling on Afghans to plant more trees.

In a public letter issued yesterday in four languages, including English, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada said that “the Mujahideen and beloved countrymen must join hands in tree planting”.

He points out that the Taliban remain “actively engaged in a struggle against foreign invaders and their hirelings” – a reference to the Kabul government that the militant group seeks to overthrow.

Shah Hussain Murtazawi, deputy spokesman for Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, dismissed it as an attempt to “deceive public opinion” and distract from the Taliban’s “crimes and destruction”.

Most of Afghanistan’s big cities are overpopulated and there are few public green spaces or parks.

According to officials from the Afghan public health ministry, up to 4,000 citizens die each year in Kabul because of illnesses brought on or exacerbated by air pollution. Wahid Muzhda, a political analyst in Kabul, said the announcement could be part of a Taliban campaign to persuade people that they would provide enlightened leadership in areas of the country that they controlled.