Taliban

As discussed in part one, the Taliban regime has faced international inspection and condemnation over its policies. After their terrorist attack in the US on September 11, 2001, several countries have broken ties with the Taliban (Atwan, 2006). Even after their ousting, the group still poses a threat is some countries such as Pakistan, China and Iran. In Iran the group relations with the government is particularly problematic. Though most of the group’s radical leaders are death, imprisoned or have fled from Afghanistan, some of them have return to the country and are now regrouping the group members to work towards their common goals. After the US shifted its military efforts to Iraq, the group intensified as Taliban and Al-Qaeda regroup threatening the existence of the newly formed Afghanistan government (Atwan, 2006).

Typology

World leaders should treat the ongoing Taliban insurgency and ever-increasing number of terrorist groups as a global treat requiring immediate attention. Globally, there has been an increase in religiosity since the early 1970s. This has been accompanied by instances that various scholars label as religious terrorism (Crews & Tarzi, 2008). Equally, Taliban’s ambitions and acts appropriately portray them as a religious-political group. As illustrated by their ideologies, religious idioms have shaped Taliban’s mandate. However, Taliban is entirely a political group that acts based on its goals (Crews & Tarzi, 2008). Several typologies affirm that Taliban group exists to fulfill the desires of these spiritual insurgencies.

Justification for Terrorism

Both the al-Qaeda and Taliban groups possess similar ideologies and believe (Shay, 2002). Commonly, the groups believe that Jews and Christians are after destroying the Islamic religion. They use this notion to justify their unprecedented attacks (Shay, 2002). With the Islamic victory over the USSR in Afghanistan, the rise of Taliban and Al-Qaeda global networks is a clear indication that there is an increase in radical Islamist groups aiming at restoring Islam as the world’s most revered religion. In this regard, the radical militants do not only pose a threat to the world, but also justify the increase in acts of terrorism. Since its inception, the Taliban faction has advocated for the complete extermination of individuals perceived as a threat to Islam. By so doing, the group justifies genocide as a just course. Based on the Islamic doctrine of jihad, Taliban assert that Muslims have a right to kill four million Americans in accordance to the right to self-defense (Shay, 2002). According to these militants, citizens across America and other western countries have become government decision makers through voting. Thus, they are non-combatants. According to their ideologies, democracy is a prohibited advance opposing Islamic values and exemplifying unorthodox religion (Shay, 2002).  

According to Bin Laden, who was one of the Taliban supporters and an influential leader of the al-Qaeda faction, terrorism is an act of self-defense aimed at revenging the attacks by western powers on Muslims and their ideologies (Tripathi, 2011). In his opinion, western citizens are accountable for the policies of the leaders they select. Since citizens are responsible for the kind of leaders that they elect, they have the ability to replace them. In this argument, Bin Laden asserts that citizens of the western countries pay the taxes that their governments uses to purchase planes, bombs, tanks and warship used to kill Muslims (Tripathi, 2011).In this regard, all westerners are guilty, and it is justifiable to attack them. To deflect critic’s arguments, and validate how two wrongs make a right, Laden cites America’s attack on Japan during the Second World War and sees no difference between this attack and the attacks perpetrated by the Taliban group (Tripathi, 2011).

In my opinion, the group’s allegations in order to justify perpetuating terrorism are inappropriate. Taliban’s view that Islam advocates for terrorism is misleading. In reality, Taliban militants have interpreted the Quran in their own favor misleading other faithful Muslims. Similarly, Taliban’s attacks on fellow Afghanistan citizens is a clear indication that they are not concern with fostering unity among Muslims as they claim, but are only interested in political power. In my view, Taliban’s attacks and perceptions on western civilians are barbaric moves aimed at instilling fear and hatred towards non-Muslim individuals.

Terrorism treat

The United Nations asserts that Taliban is responsible for most civilian casualties across Afghanistan and other foreign countries (Atwan, 2006). The human rights watch group affirms that numerous bombings and attacks by Taliban followers have led to deaths of thousands of civilians across the globe. In 2008, Taliban increased its suicide bombing attacks on civilians (Atwan, 2006). ). Human rights groups have suggested that Taliban officials had unmatched access among Pakistan’s lobbies and military groups (Tripathi, 2011). Similarly, the British defense minister suggested that Pakistan’s intelligence group supported elements of the Taliban faction during the attack on London transit system in 2005 (Tripathi, 2011). Considering these allegations, Pakistan’s involvement in the Taliban organization affairs is undoubted.

 As witnessed in the past, current Taliban’s treat on America’s soil is real. Taliban, through its allied group al-Qaeda, are responsible for bomb attacks aimed at American embassies in 1998 in Kenya and Tanzania (Atwan, 2006). Preceding the 9/11 attacks on US soil, United States employed significance pressure on the Taliban group after refusing to surrender Bin Laden (Atwan, 2006). Consequently, this led to the collapse of the Taliban rule in the Afghanistan. Despite this breakthrough, America is still under treat from Taliban remnants spread across the globe. The United Sates should aim at committing more troops to stabilize Afghanistan if it intends to deal with the Taliban menace completely.