With
the installation of an interim government, the Taliban are no longer a
government in Afghanistan. Their leader Mullah Muhammad Omar and their
problematic guest Osama bin Laden are on the run. They may for some
time keep themselves engaged in guerrilla warfare from their
hide-outs, but for all practical purposes their writ on Afghanistan is
now a part of history with many lessons for those who are left behind.
The
emergence of the Taliban after the failure of the Mujahedeen-led
government in Afghanistan is a story of intrigues and failures with
layers after layers. Even the best Afghan-experts couldn’t really
fathom and anticipate their hasty emergence. Many minds will of course
now try to solve the Taliban riddle perhaps more accurately.
With
the fall of Taliban’s Afghanistan we have many lessons to draw. The
Taliban claimed to be one hundred percent Islamic based on the
implementation of Shari`a both in letter and in spirit. Many of the
Islamic thinkers and leaders in Pakistan and in the Muslim world did
not accept their stand and were critical of their interpretation of
Shari`a. It was only after the U.S. led coalition started attacking
Afghanistan that these Islamic leaders who were till then very
critical of the Taliban became their friends and organized protests
and demonstrations in the entire Muslim World.
Again,
when the bombings started and the number of civilian deaths increased,
sympathy for Afghanistan began to surface, not in support of
Taliban’s strict Shari`a implementation but more in protest against
U.S. crimes in the region.
One
effect of that War is, however, a growing demand for learning more and
more about Islam in the West. The challenge before Islamic thinkers
and activists is therefore to draw a policy of dialogue and not
confrontation. Hearts cannot be won by military strikes. The secular
ideology of the West has failed to create a world of love and
affection. Poverty, deprivation and exploitation of the weak are the
order of the day.
Despite
calling itself the “Islamic Emirate,” the government of Taliban
was recognized by only the three countries of the “Faithful”;
Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The regime started
with a very open stand of hostility with the West, especially the
U.S., and thereby in effect remained a country in isolation, but with
a bravado stance against the “infidels”!
Historical
events are always eye-openers and are occasions to do soul searching
and better planning for the future. The reasons for the fall of the
Taliban cannot be put entirely on the military strikes by the West.
There were various miscalculations and lapses on the part of the
Talibans themselves, in addition to their harsh treatment of their own
people, which did not bring them the popular support needed for any
ideological state.
In
order to arrest the despondency that is affecting all those who had
pinned high hopes on the Taliban and were waiting for miracles, it is
imperative for all Islamic thinkers and activists to ponder and do
some serious soul-searching. To err is human and we are all human
beings. The Qur’an and the Shari`a are perfect. No doubt about it.
But its implementation requires human intellect and strategic
planning. Let us, therefore, re-evaluate the whole episode and analyze
it inside out to adopt the future strategy.
Let
us in this effort also stop taking refuge in real and imaginary
conspiracy theories and develop a cadre of researchers and thinkers,
not emotional slogan mongers, who could guide the Muslim Ummah
(nation) in its pursuit to establish an egalitarian system of
governance, one that can be so attractive that the world can again
experience another golden era.
The
time is moving very fast and the Ummah must not waste its time
in recounting the fallacies of the West or their hidden agendas. Let
us build our own house in order and repair the cracks, for if we do
not build it ourselves others will, only it would be a castle of their
own liking.
Are
we going to seize this opportunity to mend our ways by identifying
where the Ummah failed or keep ourselves basking in our past
glory and lament and hurl abuses on the West ad infintum?
