Taliban in the eye storm

 Taliban in the eye storm

Dr. Jassim Taqui

DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies

Islamabad, August 21, 2021:In the most heated debate, the Arab media unanimously opposed the re-emerge of the Taliban(T) in Afghanistan. The general perception is that the T dumped the ISI and made a secret understanding with the CIA to help to change the US policy from military influence to political influence. According to this theory, the CIA paved the way for the military expansion of T by winning the loyalty of Afghan officials from the municipal level to the district level by the power of US dollars. Those officials helped to secure the surrender of the Afghan National Army in 31 districts out of a total of 34 districts without fighting. In doing so, the CIA gave the impression to all and sundry that the T is popular to justify US public support to the T’s occupation of Afghanistan, which was culminated in the occupation of Kabul on August 15. Subsequently, the T appointed Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar to be Rahbar or Murshid(Guide) on the Iranian model. Thus, the Shiite militant model of Iran is duplicated by the militant Deobandi sect of Afghanistan. Both models introduce controlled democracy that makes a mockery of parliament and all other state institutions. Both are deemed to fail since they lack genuine people’s support.