Terrorists Or Peacekeepers? Taliban Controls Afghanistan

Civil wars, conflicts. When talking about this stuff, the Middle East would probably be the no.1 spot. But this time, we’re in somewhere else, not part of the Middle East. And that is Afghanistan.

Geographically, Afghanistan is at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. A lot of traffic, I suppose. Anyway, Afghanistan hasn’t been too well lately. It has got taken over by the militant organization called the Taliban. The President has fled the country, the capital, Kabul, and provincial capitals are falling into the hands of the Taliban. Citizens are not sure whether this means a new government for Afghanistan.

So what exactly is this Taliban? It emerged as a force for social order in a southern Afghan province in 1994 and quickly subdued the warlords controlling the south of the country. Later, in 1996, popular support for the Taliban enabled the organization to seize Kabul and control Afghanistan. By 2001, the Taliban controlled all but a small section of northern Afghanistan. However, world opinion largely disapproved of the Taliban’s social policies, including the near-total exclusion of women from public life, like employment and education. Then there was the implementation of harsh criminal punishments. The Taliban also turned the country into a haven for Islamic militants, including bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda. The Taliban’s refusal to hand over bin Laden to the United States following the 9/11 attacks prompted a military confrontation with the U.S and its allies. The Taliban later got driven from power.

That was about two decades ago. And now, once again, the Taliban is trying to claim power. They say they too want peace, though their behavior says otherwise. However, there is the old saying that you fight fire with fire. So stopping a war needs war to do that. In that sense, the Taliban is just making the country go on the right path. And to do that, they enforce their own rules. But from the U.S. perspective, the Taliban is taking over by force, destroying the government for their own good. They want to establish a new government, the Taliban government, to control Afghanistan.

So is the Taliban an Islamic terrorist organization seizing power? Is war the best way to achieve peace? Even though war can stop a war to make peace, there are always going to be casualties. So can’t we make peace peacefully, talk instead of fight? As civilized beings, that’s the best option. That is the end of this production from the New News Newsminute. Thank you, and do you fight fire with fire? Well, I fight fire with water.