Why doesn't the Taliban go on jihad against India?
Author: Nurullah Valizadeh, analyst, especially for Sangar
The Taliban movement was created and brought to power by Pakistan, of course, with the help of the West and the Arabs. Again, when the Taliban fled under the pressure of American sound bombs and settled in caves, Pakistan protected them and saved them from NATO attacks. The group came to power again with the help of Pakistan. The ISI chief came and created a government for them so that they would not swallow each other up.
But today, when, for example, Pakistan needs the Taliban's help in the war with India, the group declared neutrality. This is nothing but selfishness. Here, the Taliban makes decisions solely based on the political rationality of a secular government, not a religious, jihadist, or Islamic government or group. If the Taliban were interested in supporting Pakistan in a war against India, they would have undoubtedly found hundreds of Sharia and religious reasons and sent their brainwashed students to wage “jihad” against India. But since they are not interested in supporting Pakistan’s position in a war with India, they have declared neutrality.
Salam Zaeef, the former Taliban ambassador to Islamabad, has stated that the war between India and Pakistan is not a religious war. He has also stated that Pakistan wants to send Pashtuns to fight India. In other words, as an unofficial spokesman for the Taliban, he is saying that the Taliban, neither as an Islamic government nor as an ethnic and Pashtun government, should not enter a war with India in favor of Pakistan.
India has been able to achieve Taliban neutrality in the conflict with Pakistan by providing some aid and promises.
To the mullahs, fanatics and orators who do not understand politics but have dedicated years of their childhood and youth to serve the aims of the Taliban and its leaders, it should be said that you should ask the Taliban leaders, did you not claim that you are fighting for God and the religion of God? Did you not say that we have no other aim than the pleasure of Allah and that wherever a Muslim fights an infidel, it is obligatory for us to fight alongside a Muslim against an infidel? Why and by what logic should the Taliban not fight on the side of Pakistan against India? India, the country of infidels, has invaded the land of Muslims. So, according to the belief of the Taliban, India must be fought. India is fighting against the land that the Taliban considers the homeland of jihad and has helped the Muslim state of Afghanistan to free itself from the occupation of two infidel occupying forces. But is such a land not worthy of support?
Of course, these questions also arise in connection with the warm relations of the Taliban with China and Russia, as two countries and powers of the infidels. The Taliban has warm relations with China and Russia and is doing everything possible to gain the support of these two countries. Many of the Taliban leaders are remnants of the jihad against the Russians. How is it that yesterday, Russia was an enemy and the war against it was a religious jihad, and today the Taliban are proud of their relations with it? China is the country that carries out the most brutal policies against Uyghur Muslims, from genocide to forced renunciation of Islam and all sorts of other atrocities against them. However, today the Taliban invites China to partner and boasts of cooperating with China in every event.
It must be said that the main lever is in the hands of the Pashtunists (communists), or, as they are called, the Taliban Khalqists. This policy that the Taliban is pursuing in regional relations is not a figment of the imagination of a few clueless mullahs. It is the policy of the Pashtunists—those who have been milking both India and Pakistan for the last five decades. The Taliban are now divided into two groups. Mullah Yaqoob gets his orders from India, and Haqqani and others from Pakistan. They are with both. They are neither. As mentioned, if the basic policy of the Taliban was religious and Islamist, they should have immediately declared their position in support of Pakistan.
I have said many times that the Taliban consists of three "isms" (Pashtunism, Islamism, and imperialism). These three "isms" sometimes lead to conflicts within the Taliban and sometimes force each side of the Taliban to establish relations with each faction of the external power and create a kind of balance. Each external power feels valuable in its relations with the Taliban.
But it seems, as they say, that the toughest side of the Taliban is the Islamist side. They do not, for example, raise their voices against the Pashtunists and ask why neutrality should be declared in a war between an Islamic country and an infidel country. I believe that the Pashtunist side of the Taliban will gradually push the other sides out of the picture, and eventually, Pashtunism-fascism will remain as the core of the Taliban. There are many signs that the Taliban is moving towards Pashtunist policies. A move that the Islamist faction either has not or has not been able to implement.
Hamid Khorasani has repeatedly raised his voice about the Khalqis being the main decision makers behind the scenes in the Taliban, but it seems that Khorasani is alone in this, and the Taliban have nullified the impact of his words by ignoring his complaints and protests. It seems that he is talking nonsense.
