Trump, Khan and the Taliban

In the past few weeks, numerous exchanges have taken place between American President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan over the issues of the Taliban and more specifically the war in Afghanistan.

Whilst shots have been fired between the leaders on social media platforms like Twitter, numerous lives have been lost on the ground because of various attacks. Various groups have claimed responsibility for what they see as the necessary action.

These events, when assessed in a global political context, highlight the waning power of the American empire in the prolonged war in Afghanistan.

Just in the last week, the number of suicide attacks and bombing have been countless. But the most significant of these attacks have been the following:

1.Gunmen from the separatist Baluchistan movement killed four people in an attack on the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.

2. The Islamic state group claimed responsibility for an explosion at a mosque in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province that killed 26 people.

3. A Taliban ambush on a police convoy in western Farah province claimed the lives least 20 policemen.

4. A bomb hidden in a carton of vegetables ripped through a crowded marketplace in Peshawar killing 31 people wounding 50.

These attacks set the backdrop for the recent Twitter feud between Mr Khan and Mr Trump. When reading between the lines and analyzing their words in the context of the global political atmosphere, two things become apparent:

1. The submissive nature of the Pakistan government to the United States.

2. The waning influence of the US in the region.

Mr Trump outlined his feelings on the relationship between the US and Pakistan, by claiming that “they don’t do a damn thing for us.” In defending his administration’s decision to stop providing financial aid to Pakistan, Mr Trump said, “We’re giving them $1.3 billion a year – which we don’t give them anymore, by the way, I ended it because they don’t do anything for us.”

Mr Trump’s words suggested somewhat of a symbiotic relationship between the two nations. And this was confirmed this week wherein for the first time, Pakistan acknowledged that it had a helping role in hunting down former Al-Qa’ida leader, Osama bin Laden thus debunking the oft reported assumption that Pakistan was not involved in finding the former al-Qa’ida chief.

To deflect attention away from this exposed subservient nature of the Pakistani state, Prime Minister Khan went on to Twitter to highlight the failing of America in Afghanistan. Mr Khan tweeted the following:

Mr Khan’s assertion holds a lot of merit. According to recent BBC study, the Taliban are now openly active in 70% of Afghanistan. Amongst the countless lives lost on the War on Terror, the Taliban remain as active as before the US led insurgency into Afghanistan and now have opportunities to grab hold of more land than ever before.

Despite having the backing of various NATO armies on top of the Afghan and Pakistani armies, and having spent 17 years on this war, the US is left scratching its head as to how to deal with the fledging situation in Pakistan and how to remove the so-called enemy.

With the US admitting itself that it is losing this war and that it has no clear end in sight, it has now resorted to new strategic tactics to end this bloody war. One such example are the recent, feeble attempts to bring the leaders of the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Supposedly, Mr Khan’ defended his nation through his scathing remarks of Mr Trump and the US administration. However, the trade links, business ties and routes for the US army into Afghanistan continue to remain open. Furthermore, Pakistan recently granted landing permission to airplanes belonging to the Zionist entity.

Despite the strong rhetoric, the Pakistani regime continues to remain submissive to US and will continue to orbit US interests. However, Mr Khan’s twitter war elucidates to the reality of the position of the US in the war in Afghanistan. The influence of the once great superpower that is the US is declining and she has lost complete control on how to implement its ideology over these third world nations.

The oft used policy of cowboy tactics of ransacking lands and implementing so-called democracy, under the guise of civil liberties, is seen to be failing once again. The legacy that remains is the billions and billions of dollars spent the countess number of lives lost.

It is little wonder then that Allah (swt) foretold of this pattern of the kuffar. In Surah al-Anfal, He (swt) states:

 ﴿إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ لِيَصُدُّوا عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَسَيُنفِقُونَهَا ثُمَّ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسْرَةً ثُمَّ يُغْلَبُونَ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِلَىٰ جَهَنَّمَ يُحْشَرُونَ﴾

 “Indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to avert [people] from the way of Allah. So they will spend it; then it will be for them a [source of] regret; then they will be overcome. And those who have disbelieved - unto Hell they will be gathered.”

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Tanveer Miah