The Fall and Rise of Taliban
After 9/11, the US-led NATO forces entered Afghanistan to trap Osama bin Laden on charges of masterminding WTC twin towers blasts. The then US President, George W. Bush Jr., made false propaganda against the Muslim fundamentalists and declared “War against Terrorism”. And, successive US Presidents with the European countries joining US forces played a “gambit game” in Afghanistan and executed Operation Enduring Freedom as a result of which air raids and bombardments killed more than one million Afghan civilians and thousands of American troops also lost their lives despite spending more than $2 trillion over the last two decades. At last these imperialist forces fell down to the Taliban within a span of ten days during August 2021.
Earlier, the Soviet Union under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev had invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and lost 15000 Russian troops and rendered 35000 wounded while killing two million civilians in a period of 20 years. But at last they had to evacuate Afghanistan in 1999 with nothing but disappointment.
There is a history of Afghanistan where initially the Mongols invaded in 1219-1221. Thereafter, the Mughals invaded in 1383 and left in 1385. Britain also made three attempts to conquer Afghanistan during the 19th and 20th centuries that led Afghan-British wars between 1839-1842, 1878-80 and 1919-1921 respectively.
The history of Afghanistan reveals that the Afghans fought and won the wars against three super powers viz. the Britishers, the Soviet Union and the USA during the last three centuries. The Afghans have set an example to the world that no one is above Allah who has created the world and promised His believers success, victory and honour if they “obey and believe truly in Allah and the Day of Judgement”.
It is time for the world leaders to think deeply and positively to learn lessons from the history and the present circumstances of Afghanistan.
Syed Amjad Ali
Secunderabad, Telangana
A Bid to Polarise People
Whenever elections come nigh, polarisation gets accelerated; and when they are over, it almost vanishes. This is the tactic followed by communal parties like the BJP. Matters like ‘Love-Jihad’, ‘Masjid-Mandir’, etc. are some of them. Now a new item has been added to this list, that is “Taliban of Afghanistan”. Our media houses, toeing to the RSS line of thinking, are interviewing Muslim leaders. Their main question to Muslim leaders is: “Are Taliban of Afghanistan enemy or friend of India?” The answer expected is either yes or no.
Muslim leaders, whose main responsibility is to advise Muslims on how best they can contribute to the welfare of the country, and to live harmoniously with fellow citizens. Their main focus is on the issues of our country. To them events taking place outside our country are of secondary importance.
Our Constitution has made the Ministry of External Affairs responsible to monitor events happening outside India which have a bearing on the interest of our country, and this Ministry is doing its job. The question whether “Taliban of Afghanistan are good or bad” is a relevant question to the Ministry of External Affairs, and not to the community leaders. Muslims have born here and have to live and die here, what interest they have for events outside the country. Our country has many challenges like unemployment, atrocities against women/weaker sections and minorities, which merit our interest and should be our priority.
Why our media houses have forgotten all our challenges and are focussing on other countries’ issues. This indicates their bid to polarise people on communal lines, which is not good for our country.
Abdul Rahman Sharief
Via Email
Current Logjam in Parliament
Having disrupted Parliament for whole sessions before 2014, the BJP is in no position to preach to the Congress about the wasted hours of Parliament. This does not justify the current logjam and all political parties must come to a consensus about allowing Parliament to function after the next general elections. There should be penalties for any misbehaviour and breach of protocol. This has become vital as it is the people who have to bear the burden of paying for the parliamentarians’ time. Excuses will always be found by politicians to do what they find politically convenient.
Anthony Henriques
Mumbai, Maharashtra