THE TALIBAN AND GLOBAL SECURITY
I received the news of the toppling of the Afghan government by the Taliban with shock on Sunday 15th of August, 2021. As United States and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) prepared to withdraw their troops from the Islamic State after two decades of war, Afghanistan President, Ashraf Ghani, vaunted his military firepower and affirmed his government had the capacity to defeat Taliban. But, the world was awestricken when the unexpected ensued as the Taliban overwhelmingly conquered Afghan military within days. This is despite being equipped and trained by the best, strongest soldiers on the planet, the US Army. Afghan troops outnumbered the Taliban fighters in a ratio of 300,000 to 80,000. Corruption, cowardice and indiscipline from the senior officers to the rank and file within the Afghan armed forces precipitated their subjugation by the Taliban.
The Taliban was founded in 1994, by Mullah Mohammed Omar, as a movement of religious group of Pashtun descents in Afghanistan. Pashtun is the largest tribe in the caliphate. The group metamorphosed into a jihadist sect whose objective is primarily imposition of its own version of Shariah law on Afghanistan and subsequently the global community. According to security analysts, the group generates bulk of its funds from opium production, drug trafficking, mining in areas under their control and clandestine fundraising.
He who comes into equity must come with clean hands. It is noteworthy that ample members of the sect are drug addicts flaunting holier-than-thou attitude. Amnesty International report in 2015 found Taliban culpable in mass murder and multiple gang-rape of Afghan women and children. The sect has committed untold crimes against humanity, contravening the very Islamic law they forcefully impose on Afghan civilians.
Without official documentation from US government, some intelligence luminary fingered CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) in the radicalization of mujahedeen sect, and thereafter enlisted into Taliban through a covert program code named “Operation Cyclone” to forestall Soviet expansion and encroachment into Afghan territory. Notwithstanding, America has since made lot of sacrifices to instill peace and stability in the country.
Osama bin Laden was until his execution one time most wanted man on earth that spearheaded the September 11, 2001, deadliest terrorist attack on US soil. He fled to Afghanistan for refuge and Taliban sheltered him and his Al-Qaeda cohorts who were complicit in the attack. This prompted the US and NATO military invasion of Afghanistan. After execution of Bin Laden by the US Navy SEAL in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and synchronous dislodging of Al-Qaeda terrorist network in the Arabian Peninsula, through former President Obama, America consolidated their hold on Afghanistan to stabilize the country politically and subsequently ramp-up withdrawal of their troops. It was the longest war in US history; it gulped more than a trillion dollars while more than 2000 American troops paid the ultimate price.
The Taliban’s version of Shariah law forbids host of actions such as education, employment and sport for women, and liberalism for the general populace legitimate in Afghanistan Constitution. The sect is proverbially cruel towards women and mete all sorts of abuse on the feminine gender. In 2012, bloc of the sect in Pakistan attempted to assassinate a young girl named Malala Yousafzai, to retaliate her activism for right to education for the girl-child. A failed plot that sparked global outrage against Taliban brutality.
• Bright C. Samson, brightsamson37@gmail.com
