Taliban on small wheels and armed with knee pads. This video sequence has caused laughter on X (formerly Twitter) in recent days. The Islamist fundamentalists, back in power in Afghanistan since 2021, have had little taste for the jokes of Internet users. Alexandre Jubelin, historian and author of the Collimateur podcast devoted to military and strategic issues, took up the video for fun.
“I didn’t imagine the Taliban arriving so quickly to the podium of the hottest military parades in the world, but they worked in silence despite the criticism and we see the results, bravo to them,” he wrote on Wednesday on X, under the video of numerous Taliban on rollerblades. “Are you having a problem with our roller unit?” “, quickly responded the X account of the Taliban public relations department.
Arrest of “feminist bandits”
What followed was a lunar conversation during which the former professor politely asked (in English) what the objective of such a unit was. Their objective “is to apprehend criminals during rush hours, car chases proving ineffective,” replied the Taliban account adding that, thanks to these Taliban on rollerblades, they arrested “dozens of thieves, scammers and feminist bandits.
A second Internet user whose nickname is Hekarius took advantage of this surprising interaction to provoke the Taliban. “Men dancing to music… I have a question: do you have to be gay to become a member of this very sexy military unit? », he pretended to wonder. “Control yourself, please. In our glorious nation, we do not have such people,” the Afghanistan PR account squeaked. The Taliban advocate radical Islamism in which minorities, particularly women and LGBT+ people, are discriminated against, abused and made invisible.