Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Why the Taliban Cannot Win the War?

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Why the Taliban Cannot Win the War?

Although the Taliban have had rapid advances in winning the battlefield and capturing about 200 districts throughout the country, they failed in winning the heart of the people. The horrible deeds and behavior of the Taliban have not only led to public hatred towards the Taliban but also led to a national consensus and national uprising in the country. The national uprising against the Taliban is similar to the national uprising against British power under the leadership of Amanullah Khan Ghazi and the national uprising against the Soviet Union during Mojadedin when all people including men, women, religious scholars, farmers, the young, the old, and all ethnic and religious groups stood against them without any warring facilities. If we carefully think about the recent ironic expression of the Turkey president, we can come to comprehend the logic of this comparison. However, the aggression and occupation of the Taliban are worse than the British and Soviet Union occupation in some cases.
In another word, the national uprising against the Taliban is not just because they run a proxy war in the country, but also because of their atrocity, ruthlessness, crimes against humanity, and moral crimes. In fact, the Taliban have shocked the nation and the world by continuing some horrible crimes in the area under their dominations. They crazily launched killing of the youths, sportsmen, social activists, traders, drivers, shopkeepers, and any clean-looking guy, active person, or educated individual. According to the latest UNAMA report, since the beginning of the current year, some 1,659 civilians were killed and another 3,254 wounded – a 47 percent increase compared with the same period last year. However, the UN may not have access to all information because they destroy communication networks where they dominate.  Morally, they not only covet to wives and daughters of people but also loot their properties and crazily beheading armed and civilians in areas under their domination.
The Taliban cannot win the war because they are neither committed to the national interests and nor loyal to the Islamic values and teachings. According to Islamic teaching if someone kills a person as if he kills the whole of humanity, but killing the men and women is the easiest task for the Taliban. Without paying attention to consensus and collective fatwa of religious scholars, they audaciously shot civilians because of probable link with government. According to the latest official report from Boldak district, the Taliban audaciously killed a large number of civilians because they pertained to their rival tribes. Similar reports come from Malistan district that the Taliban have killed at least 43 people including women and children and also destroyed dozens of public and private properties such as public offices, schools, bridges, and shops people for different excuses.  Apart from the aforementioned reasons and factors, the Taliban are subject to failure because they are stuck in a dark ideology which is in paradox to the soul of time and modern civilization. Given the recent cruel deeds and behaviors in the occupied districts and also given the experience of Taliban rule in the 1990s, the people have good recognition from dogmatic ideology of the Taliban. It is not surprising that in 2015, 92 percent of all Afghans support the government in a national poll while only 4 percent supported the Taliban. Now, the people seem more pessimistic about the Taliban as they committed the worst crimes and violence after 2015.
The next reason for the failure of the Taliban is that they do not represent all religious, ethnic, and gender groups of the country.  Even, they do not represent the entire Pashtun people as they killed thousands of innocent Pashtun people because they did not think like them or not pertained to their tribe. As above said, the Taliban killed hundreds of Pashtun people who pertained to the Achakzai tribe in Boldak district in recent days. Therefore, the Taliban neither have the support of Hazara, Tajik, and Uzbek and nor from Pushtun people.
Another factor for the failure of the Taliban is their addiction to use brutal tactics to reach power while this has weakened the group’s own support in Afghanistan. As aforementioned, the Taliban fighters, like many insurgents or terrorist groups are brutally targeting civilians and government personnel. They audaciously shoot men, women, children, and also the soldiers who surrendered to the group. They are good at destruction, looting, and thieving but not constructing. This is about thirty years that they have been more or less active in Afghanistan but have not built anything in this country. Therefore, the people of Afghanistan have no good memory of them in the country. According to an Asia Foundation poll, about 93 percent of Afghans say they fear confronting the Taliban because of the group’s extremist and ruthless views. That’s why millions of people are displaced in the country after they dominate in the districts.
And lastly, the Taliban has no chance of victory because they are involved in illegal trades such as opium trade and cultivation. It is said that drug revenue accounts for more than half of the Taliban’s total funding, and it is the sole source of income for local commanders of the Taliban. Local Taliban commanders fund their networks by imposing trade taxes, including on farmers. According to local sources, the Taliban once exported drugs in the form of opium syrup from Afghanistan, but now the group is increasingly setting up laboratories to process opium into morphine and heroin. Afghanistan exports about 80 percent of the world’s opium and narcotics and the Taliban’s actions have helped keep Afghanistan the world’s largest producer and exporter of opium in the world. Therefore, the victory of the Taliban is more likely to be a dream because they have no genuine supporters in the country and also in the world.

Mohammad Zahir Akbari is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at mohammadzahirakbari@gmail com.

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