Calling upon Ulema for help in legitimizing any political move has been the oldest tactic of authoritarian monarchs and dictators throughout history of this country. Unfortunately President Karzai has continued that trend during the post-Taliban democratic set-up. On several occasions whether it has been a tussle with the parliament or mobilizing public opinion for any political domestic issue, the Ulema Council on government payroll has been called to release supporting Fatwas.

In the latest such move, the Ulema Council has issued a dangerously inflammatory statement in support of the recent anti-US tirades of President Karzai. With a language similar to the press statements of Taliban, it not only refers to the US and other NATO countries as “Kufar”—(infidels, non-believers), but also vague provocative references such as declaring that Muslims are not allowed to accept sovereignty of Kufar—a term commonly used by the Taliban. To their utter ignorance, the US and other NATO countries are not ‘Kufar’, but the ‘people of book’.  

The Ulema Council has become a Fatwa factory for narrow political interests of the small ruling group who are now attempting to create a situation of crisis aimed at manipulation of the upcoming transfer of power in 2014. The recent tirades are calculated moves beyond criticism of the US for political bargaining in Kabul. With such provocative statements from Ulema Council, it fuels grassroots level hatred and reaction. Their statement says if the United States does not respect the President’s demands: withdrawal from Maidan Wardak and transfer of Bagram prison, its continued presence would be considered “occupation”.  

Referring to the domestic criticism of Karzai’s remarks, it says “If the infidels have prisons, is it in the interest of the country? If the infidels torture women, children and our elders, is it in the interests of the country? No, these are not in the country's interest.”  It added, “Allah does not allow Muslims to accept sovereignty of infidels over them. Afghanistan is a sovereign Islamic nation with a long history of rendering sacrifices to defend its independence, protect its religion and resist attempts at its enslavement." Calling them Kufar alone is enough to provoke hatred among ordinary people toward foreigners. It is dangerously irresponsible of the Council and their boss the President. The thoughtless path of tirades will lead to destination collapse. It will take the current system down and our descent into chaos.

When faced with objections and criticism from audience in a joint BBC-RTA ‘open-jirga’ debate, President Karzai said his remarks are “just a media campaign” in the bargain with the US on some issues. But it has not been once, twice or thrice when the President has used such foul language against international community and “foreigners”. Such has been his regular public language for last two years. Regardless of the fact that mainstream American media misquoted the recent statements with headlines such as “the US and Taliban are working in concert and colluding”, why should the President use the term “in service of the US” when talking about Taliban attacks even if it is aimed to discard the anti-foreign occupation mantra of Taliban’s claim of patriotism, saying their attacks will cause the need of the US and NATO troops to stay in Afghanistan. Calling it “service to the US” is insult to the sacrifices of lives by international troops in protecting the government of Karzai.

The President has also been very innovative with new phrases for Taliban from “armed opposition” to “angry brothers”, and now a new one, “patriot Taliban”. He said some “watandost (patriot) Taliban” inform him about the daily talks between their leaders and Americans in Qatar, and ask the President to “be careful”.  It shows his utter frustration on failure to persuade Taliban for direct talks with Kabul, which they reject. In that same speech, he also mentioned the trillion-dollar worth mineral resources of Afghanistan, for which, he added, “every NATO country including the US asks, and have written to us that we need this and that of your mineral. Don’t give it to others. We are allies.”

Such comments of the President work as fodder when taken with context of the prevailing conspiracy theories among ordinary Afghans that foreign troops have come to Afghanistan to take away its mineral resources, and the Taliban insurgency is covertly supported by the US to create a continued reason for staying in the country.

This path of madness can seriously jeopardize Afghanistan’s future. All opposition groups need to come much more strongly against this path. The parliament should call a special session to discuss the trend and bring a resolution to condemn it. Though already there has been strong criticism from different opposition political groups including those in the government. In a joint statement by the 22-party coalition on Wednesday, they said the international community; particularly the United States should not take very seriously anything Karzai says. They said Karzai’s irrational outburst do not represent the view of the people of Afghanistan.  They further accused the President of making deliberate attempts to push Afghanistan towards crisis and demanded him to end the irresponsible attitude towards the international community.

However, unlike the Karzai tirades which made international headlines, the mainstream American press did not give due coverage to the domestic Afghan criticism of his remarks. Such a selective coverage, based on sensational priorities of the international media is unfair to the people of Afghanistan and future of this country. It has immense negative impact on the international public opinion about Afghanistan.