When the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan because of the sustained resistance from the Mujahideen in a Jihad that got the equivalent of a modern day Ijma from across all schools, the Mujahideen couldn’t hold up a government.
Given their background of contain people of diverse ideologies, background and even ethnicities they won the war but couldn’t maintain the peace.
It was in the Mujahideen days that the Saudi Usama b. Ladin joined up with the Afghan Jihad. We’ll hear about him later.
Afghanistan descended into warlordism, with each warlord controling a section of the country. Until the Taliban came.
Motivated by success from stamping out an injustice they swept Afghanistan and rid it of warlords, corruption and insecurity. But there were pockets like the Northern Alliance who held their ground against them.
They declared an Emirate governed by the Shari’ah. Only a few countries recognised them Saudi Arabia being one of them.
Things were to change when 9/11 happened. As the twin towers came down, American fingers pointed to Usama b. Ladin. George (the) Bush (man) Jr, demanded that the Taliban hand over Usama b. Ladin.
You are either with us or against us , the Bush man said.
The Taliban convened a Loya Jirga (it’s like a national wide consultation body) which advised Mr Bin Ladin to leave Afghanistan.
The US and its allies wouldn’t have any of that , they came bombing and the Taliban government collapsed into an armed resistance.
For 20 years , millions of dollars thousands of soldiers and hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths the US was at it. There was no point, as far as I know, where there wasn’t a Taliban resistance.
The US withdrew it’s forces recently and the regime they propped up simply folded up. Collapse is too dramatic, it paper-like folded up.
The Taliban took over.
Objections to the Taliban.
1. The Taliban are deobandis. So one may raise objections to their theology or jurisprudence from within our age old aqeedah wars. They also don’t look favourably at Salafis.
2. There implementation of Shari’ah is crude and extreme.
Response : crude and extreme may be subjective. If their actions are backed within the Hanafi school which the subcontinent subscribes to it is justified. We may disagree. We may feel they’re not being wise about it. But it is JUSTIFIED.
If your objections to it are motivated by Western liberal sentiments, you’ll need to get well soon.
3. A safe haven for terrorists.
They definitely are an enemy to ISIS. Remains to see if they’ll give Al Qaeda any support in future. They’re definitely in a very volatile geopolitical zone. Uighur and Chechen resistance may find safe haven in the Emirate once again. They’ll probably need to be wiser this time around.
4. Girls education.
There are conflicting information about this. What seems apparent to me is that they allow female religious education but not the secular one.
They should segregate education, they can also determine what is to be learnt BUT they should allow girls go to school.
Conclusion.
Irrespective of one’s stance towards them, they’re the defacto ruler of the country now. They need our prayers and support.
God be with them.
And the good people of Afghanistan
