At Kabul Zoo, Taliban soldiers hold up AK-47s and M16 assault rifles as they mingle among families, offering a new experience for the young fighters from the country of Afghanistan. In the shaded grounds, visitors enjoy ice creams and salted pomegranate seeds while Taliban gunmen peer into enclosures housing lions, leopards, camels, wolves, ostriches and macaques. The capture of the capital was the first time many of the soldiers had entered a large city, let alone a zoo, after years of fighting in the countryside. They take selfies and pose for group photos, but the relative calm is upended when one of them grabs a deer by the antlers and his friends’ roar with laughter.
Posing with a gun
Taliban fighters with and without weapons turn out after Friday prayers wearing traditional hats, turbans, and shawls. Some wore eye makeup popular among Afghan men. Abdul Qadir, a 40-year-old Taliban member now working for the interior ministry, said he was sightseeing with male friends. ‘I really like animals, especially those found in our country. I like lions very much’, he says.
In response to a question about the armed presence at the zoo — unheard of in other zoos around the world –, he said the Taliban had been in favor of banning guns from the venue so that ‘children or women should not feel scared’. The zoo has long been a haven for women, children, and young lovers in a capital where there are few public spaces for anyone but men. Six armed Taliban members wearing full military fatigues, combat webbing bursting with ammunition, steel handcuffs, peaked caps and knee pads pose for a team photo with a turbaned mullah.
Later, the group closely examines the shot taken by the designated photographer. With a Taliban flag poking out of his magazine pouch, one of the fighters gives a thumbs-up. As the boys take pictures with their mobile phones, a different group of gunmen offers their rifles to them.
A gun-free zoo
One of the attractions is a lion, named simply ‘White Lion’, which sleeps on a deck in its enclosure, measuring approximately 20 meters by 30 metres. In 2002, Marjan, a male lion who lived through coups, invasions, civil war, and the Taliban’s first rule, died at the zoo, having been regarded as a symbol of Afghan survival. Upon entering, visitors are greeted by the bronze statue of the big cat, which was injured in a grenade attack. A plaque on its grave reads: ‘Here lies Marjan, who was about 23 years old at the time. He was the world’s most famous lion’. Women in burqas, niqabs, and hijabs guide young girls and boys through the aquarium and reptile house, which is another popular attraction.
Goldfish, catfish, and turtles swim around in tanks lining the walls as a python coils up in a large glass enclosure. Samir, who lives in London, is at the zoo with his son and nephew while he waits to return to Kabul from London. He says they have been having a ‘very hard time’ since the Taliban came to power in mid-August.
‘We didn’t expect (the Taliban) to come so quickly. It’s quite peaceful in Kabul, but the thing is, the way they are, people don’t feel safe’. At the Kabul Zoo, tucked between steep hills and next to the Kabul River, entry is 40 cents for Afghans. However, some Taliban soldiers walk in without paying, disregarding the sign saying ‘No Guns in the Zoo’.
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