2. The History of Swat Valley, Pakistan
Swat valley is an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. According to Noor Elahi in Militancy Conflicts
Displacement in Swat Valley of Pakistan: Analysis of Transformation of Social and Cultural Network,
majority people who live in Swat valley are Pashtun people an ethnic group who live in Afghanistan and North-Western Pakistan. As
Pashtun people, they should use Pashtuwali as their life principle Elahi, 2015: 226. However, the use of Pashtunwali should go hand in hand with the use of
Islamic and western law. When Swat valley was not part of Pakistan and ruled by Maingul Abdul
Wadood as the first king of Swat valley in 1918, Swat’s people were introduced to modern life by their first king. For example, they should use Sharia besides
Pashtunwali as their life principles. Then they were also introduced to a modern
political system Democracy. The king also had developed some systems, like system of road, communication, education, and health for both men and women in
Swat valley. However, the first king handed over his rule to his son in 1947, Mian Jehanzeb, known as Wali Sahib. In his era, he still continued his father’s policies
but changed the policy of the distribution of land that used the system of Wesh; where every 10 years land was redistributed to the khans landlord Elahi, 2015:
229. In this case, Wali Sahib did not redistribute the land but allotted permanently to school, hospitals, mosques, other administrative units and the
khans that in the end it made khans more powerful. In other side, the common
society would be less privileged under this policy. They would only become
tenant, craftsmen, and traders that the profit would be given to khan. However, Wali Sahib was still being benevolent leader and ruled Swat valley well.
Overall, the people still remember the old period with nostalgia that despite many difficulties, there was a steadfast and low cost justice
system, clear authority, peace and security, development in health and education services, and people were more prosperous in the form of socio-
economic conditions Elahi, 2015: 229.
In 1969, Swat state merged with Pakistan. However, the lack of democratic representation in a local level created economic and political
inequality, khanism, weak government judicial system locally. Experiencing this condition made society sad and decided to join Taliban, Islamic extremist group.
3. The History of Taliban
Taliban is an Islamic extremist group that is closely linked to Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda. This is because they share the same ideology in defending
Islam and fighting against western, especially US. According to Nasreen Akhtar in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and The Taliban,
there was a war between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union in 1979 Akhtar, 2008: 49. In this war, Afghanistan was helped by the United States and
neighboring countries, especially Pakistan. For example, Pakistan let Afghan ulema
or the leading clergy replicated their madrassa or Islamic school in the refugee camps in Pakistan, specifically in Balochistan and North-West Frontier
Province NWF Akhtar, 2008: 56. The aim of building madrassa was to raise fund and recruit fighters. In fact, thousands of refugees were given shelter, food,
and they were trained to be mujahedeen or Islamic fighter to fight against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. They were trained by CIA and ISI Pakistani
national intelligence. However, this training seemed like an action of brainwashing to make talib or religious students went to Afghanistan to fight
against the Soviet Union as a form of their jihad. Children in the refugee camps were even given school textbooks produced
by an American university which taught basic arithmetic through fighting. They had examples like, „If out of 10 Russian infidels, 5 are killed by one
Muslim, 5 would be l eft’ or 15 bullets – 10 bullets = 5 bullets’. Some boys
from my father district went off to fight in Afghanistan Yousafzai, 2013: 15.
Finally, this war was won by Afghanistan and its allies. However, the
condition of Afghanistan was very severe. After the Soviet Union withdrew their troops from Afghanistan, Afghanistan fell into the civil war between mujahedeen
groups. They fought each other because they wanted to be the most powerful group that could control Afghanistan. In order to stabilize Afghanistan, Mullah
Omar and friends that had already studied in madrassa built a group named Afghan Taliban in 1994. At first, they had small followers but later on, many talib
and Swat people around 12.000 young men went to Afghanistan to help Afghan Taliban to fight against mujahedeen groups Yousafzai, 2013: 40. Most Afghan
Taliban’s missions were equipped, financed, and guided by Pakistan. However, the United States, NATO, and other international coalitions had a mandate
coming from the United Nation to reconstruct Afghanistan, Afghan Taliban disagreed with this mandate. Therefore, they declared a war against NATO and
since that day the United States became Afghan Taliban’s enemy.
According to Noor Elahi in Militancy Conflicts Displacement in Swat Valley of Pakistan: Analysis of Transformation of Social and Cultural Network,
following the 911 attack by al-Qaeda as an Islamic extremist group, the United
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