n an interview with state-owned Turkish news channel TRT World, Taliban leader Anas Haqqani spoke of the militant group’s ‘victory’ over US troops in Afghanistan and their plans for the future.
“Now, we have an opportunity to rebuild Afghanistan. God has granted us victory after so many years of effort and I am happy that an Islamic order is about to be established,” Anas Haqqani said.
‘OPPORTUNITY TO REUNITE’
He stated that he, like lots of other people, had suffered a lot over the past two decades as a result of the war and “torture by American forces and the previous Afghan government”. He was imprisoned for nearly five years and lost four brothers to the war.
However, Anas Haqqani wants to put the past behind him. “I know bad things have happened in the past but now we have the opportunity to reunite. For me, Islamic ethics and morals are vital and we are all followers of Prophet Muhammad. God removes the revenge and enmity from one’s heart,” he said.
He stated that he had many enemies from the previous regime in Afghan. “But I have no ill feelings towards any of them,” he said.
‘WE ARE BROTHERS’
Anas Haqqani advised fellow Taliban members to forgive people and “not harm them for their faults”. “We should leave that to God. I pray that God guides them all to the right path,” he said.
He said that prejudice (against the Taliban) had been injected in the minds of people over the past two decades and this needs to be removed. “They should realise we are their brothers,” he said.
When TRT correspondent Ali Mustafa asked him if the war was really over, considering groups like ISIS-K had carried out attacks in Afghanistan in the recent past, he said that the “major problem” is solved and this smaller issue would be dealt with by the Taliban in the same way.
“With the Americans gone, 90 per cent of our problems are solved. All of Afghanistan’s problems have somehow always been connected to foreign interference, whether it was the Soviet Union or the US. They always have their own agenda and try to implement it by any possible means,” Anas Haqqani said.
He continued, “It was up to us to end a big problem. Now, the mission has been accomplished. Their puppet government has been eliminated. But there still are nations that don’t want the war in Afghanistan to end and that’s why they have created groups like Daesh or ISIS-K. They want to prolong their proxy war and may attack or try to create fear. But it won’t be a big deal. We will deal with it the way we dealt with the bigger problem of the invasion.”
On August 31, US troops completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan following Taliban’s takeover of the nation two weeks earlier. The Taliban are expected to form their government in the country in the next few days.
While the Taliban have been claiming that they have changed or ‘matured’ since their previous period of rule twenty years ago, many are afraid that these statements are a mere PR exercise and fear what is to come.
