Decades of Bloodshed

After the Kuwait war, when the American forces came to the Arab countries, various Muslim scholars launched jihad by declaring the presence of infidels on the land of Hijaz as haraam. Among them was Pakistan’s Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, who supported the jihad of these Arab scholars in 1997. Osama bin Laden was in Afghanistan and blew up several US bases and embassies around the world.

When the World Trade Center was attacked in 2001, the United States asked the Taliban for Osama bin Laden. When they made excuses, US declared war on Afghanistan and came to get him. Pakistan decided to side with US in the war because we were blessed with weak leadership. Mufti Shamzai issued a fatwa of revolt against Pakistan. Thus suicide bombings began to take place.

Taliban believed jihad is as obligatory as prayer, it will continue till the Day of Judgment. But after twenty years of thrashing from the United States, they agreed that they would not wage jihad against the United States nor would they facilitate any jihad. Some are calling it a Taliban victory and are of an opinion that Taliban made Americans rub their nose. If this is the rubbing of America’s nose, they were ready to rub it twenty years ago.

If Taliban had to give up their jihad against the occupying infidels, they should have called it off 20 years ago. What was the need to get hundreds of thousands killed? According to this fallacy, the winner of the 1971 should be General Niazi, who surrendered in Dhaka, suffocated the Indian army and forced them to leave Bangladesh.

The Taliban did not fight for the freedom, economic prosperity or scientific advancement of the Afghan people. Just as the United States fought for its agenda, so did the Taliban fight for Sharia? The Afghan people suffered immensely in the battle between the two. Neither the United States nor the Taliban care about them.

Uncle SAM has successfully persuaded Taliban forces to call off their jihad against the United States and not facilitate any jihad either. As for the Afghan people, their problems will remain the same. Afghan refugees living in Pakistan will not return home. No one likes to live in Taliban hell.

However, civil war is now brewing in Afghanistan. This is due to cultural, linguistic and professional differences between the Pashtun tribes and the Persian / Dari tribes. The solution to the Afghan problem is to divide Afghanistan into two states. Persian speakers should be made a separate country and join the group of Central Asian countries.

On the other hand, Pakistan needs to be vigilant and mindful of the mistakes made in the past. For peace to succeed, the government and Pakistani establishment must pledge to end the hostilities. If such confidence-building measures succeed, a grand Afghan reconciliation process should be initiated, so that all legitimate political players can come together and forge a peaceful path for their country. Pakistan must support such a process as instability within Afghanistan will spell unrest in the whole region.