April 30, 2021

​The loss of legitimacy for ‘Jihad’ in Afghanistan

topic:	Peace and Reconciliation
located:	Afghanistan
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

With the departure of all foreign troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban insurgents simply have no religious or any other justification left to continue the deadly spate of bombings, assassinations and terror.

Greed for power could only be the motive behind the brutal insurgency that strove to kick out the so-called 'invading forces'. The Taliban's labeling of the Afghan Security and Defense Forces as 'slave soldiers' is also bizarre. Furthermore, the devastating collateral damage sustained by the civilian population is just appalling. 

What this senseless and misguided insurgency caused on Friday evening in the eastern Logar province could have ashamed the leaders of such a group, in addition to shocking the entire nation. But, in Afghanistan, it was just another tragedy for the hundred plus families who lost their loved ones’ life or limbs to the brazen truck bombing. What sort of ideology in a holy month of fasting permits blowing-up the devotees to pieces just as they sat to break their day-long fast with prayers for peace in their homeland?

Remember, most of the victims of the Logar truck bombing were students from a remote and marginalised district who had come to the provincial capital to prepare for the forthcoming university entrance test in hope for a better, peaceful future, which now seems ever more distant.

Rights groups have noted that the US forces have raised fears that further insecurity may erode important gains in human rights that have allowed Afghans, women and girls in particular, to enjoy greater freedoms and better education and health.

For those not familiar with the Taliban’s insurgency, the group emerged on the scene in Afghanistan in the late 1990s when the country was reeling from a deadly turf war among various Mujahideen factions who had toppled the pro-Soviet regime. 

The Taliban were initially seen as saviours of some sort by some in those chaotic days as they managed to establish order, albeit by force, and with the support of the intelligence and military backing by neighbouring Pakistan. 

So, their present insistent demand for power and control by uprooting the established democratic system is simply absurd. 

According to Afghanistan’s TOLO news, up to 49 soldiers and civilians are killed in Taliban attacks in Afghanistan on any given day since the announcement of the withdrawal of US troops from the country on 14 April. 

Flared-up violence and killings of security forces in Afghanistan proves that the legitimacy the Taliban gained through negotiations with the US has been put to use to expedite the march on Kabul instead of sharing the table for negotiations with fellow Afghans in order to reach a peace agreement and put an end to the ongoing bloodbath.

Image: Hbreaking News. 

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