Taliban members recently rode a pirate ship ride at an amusement park (actual ride not pictured) but couldn’t handle the excitement. Composite image by Coffee or Die Magazine.
The same oppressive regime that stood toe-to-toe with the United States military for two decades apparently couldn’t handle a carnival ride. A short video shared by photojournalist Andrew Quilty shows 12 members of the Taliban riding a dilapidated pirate ship ride in Lake Qargha, outside Kabul. The group reportedly came from Kunduz province and traveled together in a single Afghan army “Danger Ranger.”
The video of the Taliban aboard the swinging ship is brief, but Quilty’s caption claims the passengers were heard “yelling with a hint of desperation for the man at the helm to cut the engine well before it reached its highest heights.”
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The ironic scene in Lake Qargha is just the latest odd juxtaposition of heavily armed Taliban fighters playing on carnival rides. Just days after the regime’s takeover of Afghanistan in August, videos began circulating of Taliban fighters riding bumper cars and carousels like children on a school trip.
The Taliban Defense Minister Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob admonished the selfie-snapping younger generation of Taliban fighters for their perceived immaturity. He criticized the millennial fighters for driving too fast, taking too many selfies, and not dressing in accordance with Islamic rules.
Yaqoob’s directive came after fighters were seen taking photos in pedal boats, but the Taliban defense minister did not explicitly say anything about fake pirate ships. While the young Taliban were able to handle the kiddie rides, the pirate ship was a little too frightening for the extremists.
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Mac Caltrider is a senior staff writer for Coffee or Die Magazine. He served in the US Marine Corps and is a former police officer. Caltrider earned his bachelor’s degree in history and now reads anything he can get his hands on. He is also the creator of Pipes & Pages, a site intended to increase readership among enlisted troops. Caltrider spends most of his time reading, writing, and waging a one-man war against premature hair loss.
