While it is definitely in vogue to publicly denounce the 'brutal actions' of the Afghan Taliban, the few who try and proffer an alternative narrative are seen as "retarded Muslims" who are intent on blindly defending the indefensible.
Why are people so digital? Analog is not so bad.
It needn't be an either/or situation.
I support them in their resistance against occupation forces. I don't support them in their attacks on civilians.
Is that so complicated?
It bears repeating that reports on Taliban atrocities must be taken with a grain of salt, especially when it's been reported that US forces are aggressively employing "strategic communications" (read disinformation) to counterweigh their losing military strategy in Afghanistan.
Like in the aftermath of the May 2009 drone bombing in the Farah province that killed almost 100 civilians:
"The U.S. military tried desperately to spin the story, initially denying that any significant civilian casualties had resulted from the air strikes. Carefully placed leaks in the media suggested that the Taliban themselves had killed dozens of innocent people with grenades to make it appear that they had been killed by U.S. bombs.That "message" failed to gain traction, and was quietly abandoned.
When doctors and public health officials began to speculate on the reasons for the horrendous burns suffered by the Farah victims, the U.S. military circulated reports that the Taliban had been known to use white phosphorous. That, too, was not substantiated." [source]
So unless you are reporting from the battlefield, please spare me the blanket denunciations against the Taliban (or any other resistance for that matter).
I prefer not to base my judgments on press releases and government officials, especially when it's in their blatant interests to obfuscate the truth.
WAW
3 days ago
17 comments:
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Assalamu alaikum,
regardless of all the politics and hidden agendas the general public are unaware of it is a sad mess. May peace be felt in all conflict areas soon, Ameen.
I have tagged you :)
http://almiskeenah.com/?p=3107
Wassalamu alaikum
So we recently had this class project where we had were grouped and had to represent a group and either go against them as terrorist or support them as freedom fighters.
First both sides present for 10-20 minutes then they debate one on one then class asks question and we vote for what they really are.
My friend had the Taliban, the other group totally p00ned them. Later when we voted, there were like 3 people that said they were freedom fighters, while like 15 said they were terrorist.
I basically just kept your blog in mind, thinking, BrNaeem is always never fully anti-Taliban, and usually somewhat pro-Taliban, there must be a reason. People just gave me this look, "whats wrong with this kid? Is he always the anti-American guy?"
But really, what I know from your blog and the presentation is that:
1. American supported the Taliban at one point against the Mujahideen(who where they?).
2. The Taliban banned Opium Trade.
3. They implemented a strict form of Sharia(nothing wrong with that besides the actions of few which make it seem like a crazy oppressive regime).
4. They brought food to people's table.
But, it seemed that their bad outweighed their good works. So how do you support the Taliban? I also remember you said that the Taliban in Afghanistan is legitimate cause there wasn't a native government while the Taliban-members occupying Pakistan are wrong because Pakistan does have a government.
Yet from the presentation, it seemed that, there had been elections in Taliban and a native party won, so the Afghan's were ruling the country while the Taliban was resisting.
You said you support them cause they are resisting foreign forces, yet if there is a native political party in power; then what makes Taliban rule legitimate?
Also, take a look at this, I found this very sad.
"the passage of three bills in the Knesset. One would require loyalty oaths to maintain citizenship. A second states that citizens must recognize Israel as a Jewish state or else face up to one year in prison. And the third makes commemoration of the Nakba (Catastrophe – referring to the creation of Israel in 1948) a crime. (1) These come on the heels of PM Netanyahu’s demands that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a State for the Jewish People in return for “economic development.”"
From :
http://jnoubiyeh.blogspot.com/2009/05/israels-existential-threats.html
-The Muslim Kid-
Salaam Naeem,
I'm with you--this issue, like many others, is far too complicated to take black and white sides. Suggesting people (Muslims) are retarded for refusing to take sides (when both+ sides have weighty grievances to address) looks to me like someone just losing an argument.
The absence of logic or higher moral ground necessitated name-calling and insults.
I'm having a hard time figuring out at all what is going on in Afghanistan--I hear totally contradictory reports. So why would anyone think skepticism is retarded?
Anyway, as I said: I'm with you on this one.
AA- MK,
"But, it seemed that their bad outweighed their good works."
Can you detail these bad works?
"it seemed that, there had been elections in Taliban and a native party won, so the Afghan's were ruling the country while the Taliban was resisting."
So if an occupying force invades a country, throws together a sham election, and installs their puppet leader, the locals are obliged to fall in rank and obey their 'democratically' elected leader?
Hmm, A complicated issue indeed. But, if any a fraction of the things being said about the taliban are true, then I would have to say that this organization amounts to little more than a terrorist organization. I still cannot get beyond the fact that they burn women's school because they feel, some how, it's un-islamic.
At one point, I held-out hope the the taliban when they put an end to most of the tribal in-fighting taking place in Afghanistan. But, it seemed as soon as they came to power, their demonic side came to light:
1)Burning women's schools
2)Forced marriages
3)unjustified beheadings
I'm not sure how much of this reporting is true or just sheer propaganda...I'm not sure who to believe. But, hearing from those who actually lived under taliban rule who cause me to relunctantly thing the worse of the taliban. But, I also heard some good things they were doing:
1)eliminating the popi fields
2)reducing crime
3)eliminating vice
So, how does one come to a conclusion about the taliban?
Here's my take on it:
I know what I'm against. I'm against America's attempt to colonize the Third World, particularly the Musim world, in an effort to steal and exploit their natural and human resources away from its competitors (EU, Russia and China). Instead of allowing these countries to decide for themselves who they want to do business with and how they want to run their own affairs, America had the audacity to think it could use its military might to force them (through wars and occupation/bases) to do primarily do business with it and to shape their systems of ruling into a pseudo democratic structure that always stays compliant with American dictates.
I'm also against those pseudo-democratic structures (Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan) and outright dicatatorships (Saudi Arabia) that do America's bidding in opposition to what its populace demands for them. Like "Busharaff" who went against his populace's stance on not assisting America to become an "ally" in the War on Terror.
Now as for what I'm like Brother Naeem I am in support of any individual (notice I say individual and not group) who either fights (in the case of defending his/her Muslim state against foreign invasion)or rallies others to uproot the Kufr in order to implement Islam.
In terms of the people who are fighting I support individuals and groups who don't resort to the reckless disregard and killing of civilian lives, whether Muslim or non Muslim. So I don't support Al-Qaeda and its actions, even though I understand their grievances. September 11 was a terrible tragedy that shouldn't have befalled upon anyone whether they be Muslim or nonMuslim. With the Taliban like Brother Naeem I'm wary of making blanket judgements upon them. Like I've read reports (from Western sources too) that the Taliban often warns residents to leave their villages before an oncoming firefight. On the other hand I've also heard of them using suicide bombers and other such innovative practices to fight. Even though I don't agree with all their tactics (and I don't even know if they're responsible for all these tactics since it's coming form biased news sources) I'm not going to go against their basic goal which is to oust foreign forces from their country not because of nationalist reasons but because of Islam.
As for supporting individuals who rally others I think that's a duty that the rest of us who aren't fighting are capable of doing. This means informing others (both Muslim and nonMuslim) about the realities of these wars (aggression and domination and not for democracy building) and how America is simply trying to desperately maintain its hegemonic status despite the fact that other countries are economically rising while its own economy is sinking and despite the fact that its all-impressive military is incapable of fighting insurgencies. For those of us in non Muslim countries our duty is to rally the citizens to oppose their leaders in continuing the war and to disengage in every way possible from further colonial aspirations upon the Third World so that they can for once cater to their own citizens immediate needs. For those of us in the Muslim world it's our duty to rally the Muslims to start opposing all their puppet despotic rulers until they are overthrown and the Muslim states are united under one Islamic rule.
took the words straight out of my mouth, bro. ppl are way too quick to believe the media's take on everything, they tend to forget that in general they're a bunch of biased liars. forget grain of salt ppl, we're talking abt heaping spoonfuls.
AA-
@Anon, "So, how does one come to a conclusion about the taliban?"
My approach is to look at the possible vested interests of those reporting the news. Its clear that western news outlets have a bone to pick. Same goes for Pakistani news.
On the other hand, news from the Taliban themselves is equally filled with propaganda.
In the end, I give them my conditional support while trying my best to read between the lines when it comes to news reports...
@R, bro, r u trying to take over my blog?!? :-P
Again, I find myself agreeing with everything you've written.
@Rana, heaping spoonful is so true!
Sorry dude I just love your blog and felt like venting to someone about how I feel living through these terrible times (which I personally have concluded are the Signs of the Last Day and so we should prepare for the major signs to start occurring soon Insha'Allah). BTW I'm a sis not a bro :)
I didn't get my news about the Taliban from western MSM. I don't really watch the news much. But I have recently read books that have the Taliban in them. So if they are like the books portray, they are really quite intolerant evil men, in my opinion. I would hate to live under their rule. They think they are gods and everyone must do their bidding. OK..maybe my books were wrong and one day I'll meet kindhearted, tolerant Taliban people. I would love to be wrong about them. Really.
AA Bro Naeem
As a person whose spent almost every summer for the past 15 years in Swat @ my family's summer home, I can speak from a up close and personal POV re the Taliban.
Firstly they are neither Muslims nor Pakhtoons- they are athiest Russians. How do I know this? My uncle - a retired Pk army general was trying to protect some women and children by hiding them from the Taliban. So what happened- he was abducted along with several of these innocents and brutally beaten - finally was released due to army rescue. From this uncle we heard that these so called Taliban were speaking in Russian and other foreign languages.
So before claiming that these Taliban are Muslims is far from the truth - they don't represent any Islam many of us have been brought up to believe in. Remember that education is the first creed of Islam and the Taliban have destroyed hundreds of schools all over Northern Pakistan. This again is not worthy of one who claims Islam as their faith. BTW - these munafiq also destroyed 300+ old Qurans and Islamic manuscripts while on rampage in this area.
Assalamu alaikum,
Here's a du'a I learned today. Its English translation is the following:
Oh Allah help those who help your Deen and disgrace those who work against your Deen.
I agree 110% on the last few lines - the media is in Kuffaar's hands...they will only tell/show you what THEY WANT you to hear/see
ahh whatever I am so tired of all these ppl actually taking the side of the T. Give me a break they beat your sisters, force them into marriages, support the drug trade... OH BUT THEY ARE MARTYRS. BWHAHA I hope they get the houris of HELL. I would love to see them getting speared by the women that they have killed, tortured, and maimed. Personally, I am waiting for the daughters of Aisha and Fatima to wake up. Cause when they do, muslim men will have heck to pay.
When did killing a Muslim civilian become an issue with two sides? A man killing an innocent Muslim will "NEVER" note my word remove occupation forces from a Muslim land. To remove occupation or restore an Islamic state, requires middle of the road leadership not marginal nut-cases. Turkey may be the closest I can see so far and they are also too far to the left but they are closer to the center than these nut-cases.
In my opinion the United States Govenment is using the Taliban as a mask of their on-going efforts to gain public support of stealing resources.As for Bin Laden.....I personally respect the man, the U.S. used him as a public enemy, then they hid him in safety, so that the war on "terror" could survive long enough for them to get what they need.
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