Dr John Mohan Razu
Imperial forces believed in expansionism and occupation of territories in diverse epochs of history tried to occupy Afghanistan permanently and for good, but the Afghan forces along with the people thwarted the invading forces from permanent occupation and colonisation. The recent one that managed to rule over under proxy with the connivance of Afghanistan Government by exerting its military power vis-à-vis NATO, British and American forces for about two decades came to an abrupt end as the United States wanted to pull-out.
Forces belonging to NATO, British and United States in collusion with the Afghan Government occupied and helped the government to rule over Afghanistan for about two decades. Two decades rule of the coalition came to a close a month ago and American administration had decided to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan which propelled other forces also to quit as the American forces was the dominating one in the entire coalition. This has brought interventionist and global policing of the imperial forces to a grinding halt.
Taliban, a resistance movement that opposed the occupation of foreign forces on their soil sustained their efforts military managed to evict the NATO-American-Afghanistan forces to quit and could not sustain the onslaught of the Taliban in the rural parts of Afghanistan. Though Taliban had to wage a sustained violent war against the foreign with a local combine resulted in killing hundreds of civilians and fighters belonging to both the sides and at last Taliban took control of all provinces of Afghanistan.
Despite America spending over three trillion dollars; Great Britain and NATO countries little less than that at last had to give-up the forced occupation.Expansionists and occupiers should learn lessons from the fall of Afghanistan that the will of the people of the soil shall always triumph. There are a few empire builders and expansionists who tend to venture, but shall never last long. Histories of nations taught lessons that military power alone shall never be the determining factor. It can be deterred and wilted by the resolve and resilience of the people.
Afghanistan is a country of tribes. Taliban, an ethnic group with a majority distributed in Afghanistan. The Taliban were removed from power by the American forces in 2001. After two decades it has taken over the reign of power.Taliban is a revolutionary movement opposed to the Afghans. Its ideology is right-wing Islamic extremism literally based on Shariah law, the fundamental religious concept of Islam and its law.
Shariah law is a religious law forming part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran and the hadith. Shariah is Islam’s legal system.Taliban follows the Shariah law literally and thus rooted in the tenets of it. It does not allow interpretation of it and just follow ‘what does the law say’. ‘The changed and changing context’ is irrelevant and so rooted in literal verbatim of the Islamic tradition and its usages.
Since it is a right-wing fundamentalist Islamic religious party and a movement, it is anti-women and anti-minority. As a right-wing outfit its ideology is also repressive and exclusive. Therefore, it cannot stand for all-inclusive concept that patronises orthodoxy, age-old traditions and culture and do not subscribe to modernisation and changing cultures. Further, it calls everyone to follow the dos and don’ts as prescribed. Since Taliban is keen in dictating terms what women should dress, eat, behave and what kinds of education and employment they should get-in and do there is no possibility of violating the stipulated norms and conditions.
They believe that power is born through the barrel of guns and so to get the power they use violent means in brute ways and militancy.Therefore, to capture power it uses extremist ways and, in the process, eliminates those who come in its way. Radical extremities of religions are spreading across the world. Ideologies and political vision premised on radical religious tenets are sweeping like wild fire. Afghanistan is a clear case in point. Taliban’s government shall never be inclusive, but partisan and exclusive based on sharia laws with strict adherents of it.
A few countries believe in Islamic fundamentalism and thus follow as way of life. The current dispensation in India subscribes to Hindu fundamentalism and believes in the establishment of Hindu Rashtra. It considers the minorities – Muslims, Christians and others as outsiders and second-class citizens;The Sri Lanka government has twisted Buddhism to enhance and thus enables Sinhala fundamentalism. Along these, former PM Benjamin Netanyahu and the present prime minister of Israel belong to political parties that support Zionism that hails the supremacy of Hebrews and totally disregards other identities. Needless to say, former president of the United States, Donald Trump believed in white supremacy rooted in Christian fundamentalism.
World at large is gradually moving towards right-wing militant fundamentalism that promotes binaries that distinguishes “I and You”, “We and They”, and “Ours and Theirs”. For, instance, Taliban thus dictates women what to eat, how to dress, what kind of education they should have and host of others that concerns culture and tradition as said in sharia. Over and above, it believes in sharia law which would literally be used for governance which is antithetical to the rules of law and the Constitution. Further, Taliban would not conform to basic and fundamental rights of citizens. Those who violate in public are lashed or terminated.
Similar traits and tenets are found in other right-wing populist political parties across the world. Even the current dispensation the rules India though professes inclusivity, but in practice polarises based on majoritarian versus minoritarian and antagonistic towards the religions of minorities. Intolerance and hatred are part of their political program that nakedly surfaces using crude methods by taking law into their hands whenever the minorities, Dalits and Adivasis ask for their rights and privileges. Their rights and freedom are throttled and crushed in diverse ways. The levels of atrocities perpetuated against the minorities and Dalits are rising.
It is important to carefully analyse and evaluate the incidents that we hear, watch and read every day about their sufferings. Commonalities of the right-wing ideology and radical politics do not only exist and manifest in the formats of extreme right-wing ISIS, Al-Qaida, but in subtle ways manifests in right-wing run governments in the West and other parts of the world as well. What we need to look at are gradations, intensity and modus operandi.
Sharia laws are supposed to govern all aspects of law, but Taliban’s selective applications and interpretations are aberrational.Likewise, nowadays we see increasingly the right-wing political parties, its leaders and supporters invoke by quoting select passages by taking the Holy Scriptures such as Bible, Quran, Torah, Vedas selectively and thus offer interpretations that suits their political agenda, to wield power and to run their regimes. Hence, those countries that subscribes to right-wing politics should know that there are a number of commonalities between Taliban and them.
