The Re-mullahrization Of Afghanistan And Its Lessons For ‘one Nigeria Under Fulani-bandits’
The scenes from Kabul, are ugly, very ugly indeed. A human disaster and tragedy of unimaginable proportions is unfolding right before our eyes. At this stage it is purely academic and utterly useless to narrate via blow-by-blow account, how and why things fell apart so dramatically in Afghanistan. That is best left for military, diplomatic, and political historians to digest and dissect the immediate and remote causes.
All that one can say is that by declaring May 1, 2021 as the date for the complete withdrawal of US Forces from Afghanistan, former President Donald Trump willfully or unwilfully set up a booby trap policy that President Joe Biden, again willfully or unwilfully, walked straight into.
In fairness to President Joe Biden, his was largely an either – or choice, with no grey areas in between. Stick to the Trumpian pullout as his political instincts commanded, and risk the likelihood of a humanitarian catastrophe, just as we may about to witness, or delay the withdrawal, and risk renewed conflict with a resurgent Taliban.
Before we put forward our suggestion for a diplomatic resolution of the impending humanitarian disaster, it is pertinent to highlight some inescapable lessons that must be learnt from the Afghan tragedy. These lessons are particularly compelling especially for those Nigerians who unashamedly subscribe to or actively propagate the ‘One Nigeria under Fulani Bandits’ philosophy.
The first major lesson is that freedom of choice and personal liberty are universal instincts cherished by Muslims, Christians and all humanity alike. Never mind the lie continually being put forward by Muslim fundamentalists, that regimented, autocratic rule under rigid, medieval, Islamic Sharia Law is a viable alternative to personal liberty and freedom. The people fleeing Kabul are all Muslims and the place where they are so desperate to flee to is the United States, a bastion of freedom!
The second lesson is that human will is a priceless innate asset, unteachable, unerasable, and non-transferable. This lesson should be of particular interest to proponents and adherents of the misguided, expansionist policy of ‘One Nigeria under Fulani Bandits.’ Many indigenous Nigerians, have lost all hope and confidence in the viability and sustainability of the Nigerian state which currently exists solely to serve and pander to Fulani-bandits’ whims and caprices. Except amends are made, when the conditions are ripe, Nigeria will certainly collapse in much the same way the Afghan State collapsed under sustained Taliban pressure.
The third lesson is essentially for the Taliban themselves but also for Fulani bandit-terrorists and their expansionist instigators in Nigeria. The Taliban are seeing with their own eyes, the lengths and risks including that of certain suicide, that their fellow country-men and women are willing to take to disassociate themselves from Taliban rule. The people at Kabul airport, fleeing Taliban rule are the crème de la crème of Afghan society. We are talking of professionals, engineers, doctors, teachers, lawyers etc. and progressive Muslims, with the know-how to fuel and sustain nation-building. The people who are fleeing have abandoned their lives and businesses, properties and possessions, just because they want to get away from the Taliban mullahs. If Nigerians by ‘malicious executive hook or fraudulent constitution-amendment crook’ allow Fulani expansionists to seize their ancestral lands, they may soon find themselves fleeing Fulani bandit-terrorists in much the same way Afghans are currently fleeing Taliban Mullahs.
Let us round up by saying that this is the time for Muslim nations to come together under the banner of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to intervene and bring some semblance of sanity into the newly ‘mullahrized’ Afghanistan. Leading Muslim nations like Pakistan, whose secret service, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) reportedly set up and funded the Afghan Taliban, as well as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, need to leverage their influence on the Taliban mullahs to forestall an imminent vengeful bloodbath in Afghanistan as well as the certain medieval subjugation of women. Let us not forget that the late assassinated Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was a woman. Pakistan was and still is a Muslim country.
Those who have negotiated with the Taliban, say they never keep their promises and are full of Taqiyya a.k.a deception. The Taliban say they will not seek revenge on their enemies. Wise people with very good reason say, promises are comfort to fools. I am not Afghani, but I certainly do not believe the Taliban. Their true colors will emerge once the US forces currently guarding Kabul Airport depart. They remind me of Nigerian expansionists, full of self-professed integrity who swore to Nigerians that they were born again democrats. No sooner did they get into office than Nigerians began to see their true colors, their zeal to deal with their enemies, and their determination to set up ‘One Nigeria under Fulani bandit-terrorists’. Six years on, we are still settling that expansionist matter, right up till this very moment!
Anthony Chuka Konwea, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, MNSE, FNIStructE, MNICE.