Why Taliban should be given a chance to govern Afghanistan: A rejoinder to the statement of Prof. Ishaq Akintola in a chat with The Punch

By Hossein Saheed

“Majority of the bandits and Boko Haram terrorizing Nigeria are Nigerians committing different acts of unlawful killings in the country and neighbouring countries on the claim that western education is haram (forbidden) and that they want to turn Nigeria to Islamic State like that of Afghanistan. [If] they are ready to take over the government of Nigeria today does that mean The MURIC Director, Prof. Isiahq Akintola will support them as he supports Taliban?”

The statement made by the MURIC Director, Prof. Isiahq Akintola on the 17th of August, 2021 to The PUNCH during an interview is a swift reaction and contribution to a situation a Muslim leader like the Prof. could have made to reduce tension and ensure peace where there seems to be chaos, tension and threat of war like in Afghanistan. I, with utmost respect, appreciate the Professor of Islamic Eschatology for the statement and pray that Allâh preserve him upon the path of goodness!

However, I observed a particular statement made by the Prof. during the interview by The PUNCH. The PUNCH correspondent asked the Prof. whether he is in support of the takeover by Taliban in the Afghanistan and the Prof. said: “Yes, I am in support. And I will explain. The Taliban are Afghanistans; it is their country, it is not America’s. Just as Nigerians have the right to be in their own country. They were driven to the countryside by American invading forces.”

Hence, the statement, among others, made by Prof. during this interview by The PUNCH is the subject matter of this rejoinder regarding the event in Afghanistan. I agree with Prof., however, only to the extent that the Taliban are Afghans and that it is their country and that they have rights to stay in their country without fear. However, it is safe for me to state here that there are limitations to the rights of a citizen in his own country.

The rights of a citizen in a particular country may be curtailed and put to an end if he commits an offence in any other country of the world thereby giving the said country the authority/power to try him in their country. The instance of this is currently happening in Nigeria where a Nigerian committed an offence in another country and he was arrested and he is undergoing trial in the said country. It is on this, I humbly submit that despite the fact that Taliban are Afghans they can be deprived of some rights in their country upon certain conditions.

It is to be noted that the reason the USA forces moved to Afghanistan was to avenge the attack by Al-Qaeda in USA on 11/9/2001. In the attack, Al-Qaedar hijacked four commercial planes and crashed them into different notable places in USA which include World Trade Center in New York and Pentagon in Washington, DC where about 3000 people were killed. The attack was later linked to Osama Bin Laden (the then leader of Al-Qaeda) who was hiding in Afghanistan under the shelter of Taliban.

It was as a result of this attack that the then USA President George W. Bush signed a joint resolution into law which authorize the use of force against those responsible for attacking USA on 11/9/2001 referring to as 9/11 in America. With this, if American forces on getting to Afghanistan truly derived the Taliban in their own country,  as the Prof. said, then the reason could be that Taliban took, either a direct  or an indirect, part in the 9/11 attack in USA.

The Prof. again further stated during the interview that “Now, American forces have fled, that is the way to put it because that is exactly what they did. Biden just said America did not come into Afghanistan for nation-building; it is quite insulting and irritating. You fool a whole country for 20 years”

With humility, I beg to take a different position on this. The fact is, American forces moved to Afghanistan on a mission to stop terrorists from attacking USA through Afghanistan and to get the people that partook in 9/11 attack. President Biden stated this on 17/8/2021 in his remarks on Afghanistan, the President’s speech reads: “We went to Afghanistan almost 20 years ago with clear goals: get those who attacked us on Sept. 11, 2001, and make sure Al Qaeda could not use Afghanistan as a base from which to attack us again. We did that. We severely degraded Al Qaeda and Afghanistan. We never gave up the hunt for Osama bin Laden and we got him.’’ Thus, it was after achieving this that they moved away. With respect, this has nothing in relation to the word “fool” but a mission to achieve a particular purpose.

Another statement made by the Prof. which also brought about this rejoinder is that while the Professor was talking on why he supports Taliban takeover Afghanistan stated that “While we support the return of the Taliban, we will not support extremism and terrorism in any form.” As a matter of fact, Taliban can be supported by any person, sect or country of the world but the fact far from fallacy is whoever is in support of Taliban by taking over Afghanistan government is indirectly supporting extremism if not terrorism. Taliban during their first tenure in 1996-2001 imposed ultra-extremist Islamic law in the country which banned women from working and girls form schooling.

As though that was not enough, when they took over on 16th August 2021, they went to Afghanistan bank and forced out two female bankers on the ground that they could not be working together with male counterparts and gave a condition that they can replace themselves with male relatives.

However, if Taliban are not coming with extremism what name can we call the above act? In Nigeria, majority of the bandits and Boko Haram terrorizing Nigeria are Nigerians committing different acts of unlawful killings in the country and neighbouring countries on the claim that western education is haram (forbidden) and that they want to turn Nigeria to Islamic State like that of Afghanistan. However if they are ready to take over the government of Nigeria today does that mean The MURIC Director, Prof. Isiahq Akintola will support them as he supports Taliban?

May Allâh save Nigeria, Nigerians, the people of Afghanistan and the entire Muslim of the world!

Hossein Saheed is an undergraduate at the Faculty of Law, Al-hikmah University, Ilorin. He can be reached on [email protected]