Image by WikiImages from Pixabay 

Afghanistan, whose hilly terrains and arid soil has seen the rise and fall of several empires since time immemorial. Its existence dates back to as early as Indus valley civilization, witnessing the annexation of several great warriors like Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan and rule of grand empires like the Mauryan to various Persian empires to the most recent British Empire in the 19th century followed by the interference of Soviet Union in the 1970s to NATO in 2000s.

The ascendancy of various grand empires spanning centuries had a profound influence on its culture. Despite Islam being practiced in the majority, various artefacts also suggested the existence of Buddhism, Hinduism and ancient Macedonian and Persian cultures.

Afghanistan, being present at such a geostrategic location, has often been used as a tool by various foreign governments to suit their interest at expense of the peace of the Afghan people.

Once a vibrant, culturally built and safe country in the 1960s and 70s, the peace was shattered in 1979 with the entrance of the Soviet Union onto the soil of Afghans leading to decades of turmoil as we see today.

The presence of Soviets in Afghanistan led to foreign powers funding and creating local rebel groups often referred to as mujahideen to fight the Communist power off. Post their withdrawal, it led to a power vacuum, paving the way to the rise of 'Taliban', the group which was originally composed of students from religious seminaries, led by Mullah Omar, a former member of Mujahideen.

Taliban, an extremist religious group, is a product of foreign intermingling and fundings into the affairs of a stable peaceful country. A branch of several Mujahideen groups, to counter the Soviets, was increasingly backed by the immediate neighboring country of Pakistan to fulfil its dream of paving the way to form a joint Islamic group of countries under their rule.


But, what was forgotten was the terror such steps were inviting for the whole world.

This terror group is an example to show, how the beliefs and rules of Islam, one of several holy religions followed by several of its faithful around the globe, will be highly misinterpreted and cunningly censored to suit the ill-minded, violent and highly backward mindset of a section of people.

The current political and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has resulted from hasty treaties and withdrawals of the NATO group from the country followed by surprising but expected swift recapturing by Taliban, bringing back the ripples of its previous rule of five years from 1996-2001 causing a great sense of fear, stress, anxiety and hopelessness.

While the world is extending support and empathy to the people of Afghanistan, the most disturbing trend has been how certain intellectuals and section of society is busy advocating the return of "Good Taliban".

The "Good Taliban" tells the world that they guarantee women's rights but order women to stay at home and leave their jobs forever. They say, the country will not be an opium farm, the business which is one of the primary sources of revenue for the Taliban. Hold press conferences not because they believe in freedom of speech. They do it because they need international aid, money and sympathy.

The "Good Taliban" goes around the city, assuring people not to worry about their safety by pointing AK47 and other automatic guns at those very same people.

What we see is not any Good or Bad Taliban, but an extremist highly misguided religious terror group having a crackdown on basic human rights of civilians especially women.

The recognition of this terror group as official government by countries like China and Pakistan is hinting towards some political and monetary gains these countries will have by backing the Taliban government.

With the withdrawal of the US and other NATO forces, Beijing has offered Kabul what it needs the most: political impartiality and economic investments. Afghanistan in turn can provide access to 1 Trillion USD present in form of untapped mineral deposits, including critical industrial metals such as lithium, iron, copper and cobalt.

The Pakistan government has often called Talibani people who always roam around with automatic rifle guns 'normal civilians' and regard them as freedom fighters who have successfully drawn out the foreign forces, "breaking the shackles of slavery". Since the birth of the Taliban in 1994, it has been consistently being funded and secretly supported by Pakistan to fulfil its agendas.

Focusing back on the internal crisis happening in Afghanistan, the news of the formation of an extremist government is horrifying for both its civilians and the world watching them over. With fake promises on their mouth and a superficial identity of being a changed group and modernised mindset to the world, the terror outfit is increasingly taking stringent measures to push 50% of the Afghani population under literal house arrest, stripping them off of all basic human rights and freedoms. Unspoken physical torture and atrocities that is happening on various local tribes with a rich culture to promote their own misinterpreted version of Sharia Law regressing the country hundred of years back.

Various Taliban leaders, who were into hiding during 20 years of war with the US, are all springing up, and being assigned various high authoritative positions in the government to rule the country. Many of them have a history of involvement in various terror activities around the globe, their presence as leaders of a country is undermining the security of the country and the world as a whole.

In order to ensure that peace is not compromised, all the countries' leaders and government should collectively ensure that the terror outfit government is well under immense pressure to change its approach to ruling the country and its soil is not used for activities that will undermine the prosperity and peace of the world and the country.

.   .   .

Discus