He was known for “walking well” among the community.

[meliss]

Hi, I don't understand the figurative sense of this phrase. Please, help me.

"The fact that Haybatullah was a religious scholar and a judge enhanced his credibility. He had numerous students and an extensive network within the Taliban movement. He was known for “walking well” among the community. Other Taliban could not match his reputation for calm temperament and arduous study."

Source: The American War in Afghanistan by Carter Malkasian

 

[Skrej]

Without more context, it doesn't mean much to me, either. Note that the author chose to put quotes around the phrase. I don't know if that's used as a literal quotation (i.e that's the exact term used in the community), or whether it's used in the sense of emphasizing the term. Sometimes we put quotes (or even air quotes when speaking) around a word or phrase to emphasize it while suggesting we don't believe it or don't agree with it.

I suspect it's a literal quotation of the term used in the community. Since it seems to carry some other meaning in the community, that's probably why he chose to use the quotation marks.


If someone were recovering from some kind of injury where their ability to walk was severely impacted, then we might say they were walking well (compared to their previous recovery progress), but that's obviously not the case here.

If I had to hazard a guess based only on the given context, it seems to mean something like 'being visible, accessible, or approachable to the community at large'. Perhaps he walked about in the community talking with people or listening to their problems?

 

[teechar]

Given that it's in double quotes, I wonder if it's a commonly used local (Afghani) expression. It's obviously saying that he's of some standing in that community.