After the Soviet Union withdrew its forces from Afghanistan in 1989, many commanders and factions who fought against them proclaimed that they had changed the course of Afghanistan‘s history and that a new era had begun in which the Afghan nation would be led by them to prosperity and good governance. Although these commanders and factions lacked experience, will, or a clear plan for the future, they propagated a vague sense of pride with jihadi slogans among different sections of the nation. Thousands of people who mobilized resources and fought for freedom with the slogan of jihad wanted to feel a sense of freedom. However, over time everyone became disillusioned and realized that freedom is a much more complex concept than the absence of an invading army. The war for freedom had created more forces for bad than was actually beneficial for freedom itself. After a few years, the “conquerors“ were so drowned in the mire of war and crime that the withdrawal of the Soviet forces no longer created a sense of pride or honor.
Now, many years later, the country‘s institutions have fallen into the grip of a group that calls itself the hero of freedom in the day of the withdrawal of the Soviet forces. This group has curtailed very basic individual and civil freedoms, such as education, travel, and choice of clothes, music, and entertainment. The country has turned into a dungeon where millions of people are suffering from hunger, oppression, and brutal mental torture. In this gathering, which was being broadcasted by the so–called national television, they bragged their power and how they brought about freedom, but at the same time one could notice the fear that they are unable to govern and another invasion might be imminent.
Again, the Taliban repeat the mistake of their predecessors, jihadist parties, in treating the country as a fiefdom following a feudalistic arrangement in which citizens are treated as peasants who must give allegiance to the owner of the land. Like the autocrats before them, the Taliban do not consider people to be entitled to vote and freedom; they only demand allegiance and obedience from the people. They consider themselves shepherds and the nation as sheep who have no other mission than to be sacrificed and benefit the owners (emirs and caliphs). Therefore, freedom is considered equivalent to conquering this God–given land. Of course, they have conquered under the pretext of spreading religion and the word of God, and will govern banning individual freedoms and human rights since they are considered against religion and are a conspiracy of infidels. But God and religion are only means; what they expect of people in practice is servitude and submission to the Amir and his successors.
