Let’s imagine for a moment that we are unaware of Mullah Hibatullah’s identity as the leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and that his Eid message did not originate from Kandahar, but was issued from an unseen, enigmatic land hidden from the world’s eyes. This message then becomes a curiosity-inducing document, a text worthy of examination.
The Emirate he paints does not align with reality as we know it. Mullah Hibatullah proclaims that he and his Taliban associates have successfully instituted an Islamic system and enacted Sharia law. Among the fruits of this implementation, he alleges the country’s independence is safeguarded, national unity fortified, and ethnic, linguistic, and regional biases and prejudices extinguished. He purports that the country has reached economic self-sufficiency, women’s rights have been reinstated, and oppressive practices such as forced marriages have been abolished.
What an intriguing land it must be. Yet, he is not a ruler from an unknown, unexplored territory, whose words we digest out of mere curiosity. He governs Afghanistan, a place where a cadre of nomadic mullahs rule, causing public outrage through school shutdowns, curtailing of freedoms, suppression of dissent, harassment of critics, and sham court proceedings. Upon hearing the name of this land, the world associates it with regression, famine, and unprecedented violence. How then, from such a fear and hunger-stricken Emirate, can a message emerge that so blatantly contradicts reality and is transparently a falsehood, laced with references to God, Quranic verses, and Hadiths, and arrogantly addressed to all Muslims of the world, and specifically Afghanistan?
This message even presumes to dispense advice to denizens of the Middle East and Africa.
His delusions of grandeur may stem from the remaining arsenals of foreign soldiers, suicide bombers, funds both overtly and covertly supplied by intelligence agencies to his administration, money extorted from the starving populace through tithes, Zakat, and taxes, as well as profits accrued through opium trade, smuggling, and racketeering. He seems genuinely convinced that he has reached the “Emirate” of Muslims and has initiated a new chapter in the annals of Afghanistan and the Islamic world. His comprehension of today’s complex, multidimensional world, both in material and spiritual terms, appears limited.
He seems unaware that his destructive faction, whether from a military, economic, or professional perspective, is seen as no more than a band of mercenaries and contracted warriors. The annual budget of his Emirate equates to the earnings of median criminal gangs.
Several companies within our region employ more personnel than his militant ranks, not to mention the governments and institutions he purports to replace. This illusion of power and entitlement was also present during the republic era when a select group of potentates, ensconced behind concrete fortresses, in the shadow of their chase vehicles and heavily armed soldiers, grew so arrogant that they overlooked their dependency on others to fund their soldier’s salaries, car fuels, and office electricity bills.
They failed to recognize the vital importance of constructive global interaction and dialogue with their citizens for their survival and the stability of the system as a whole.
Mullah Hibatullah, more deluded than his predecessors, is estranged from reality. In his Emirate, citizen dialogue and consultation, voting and polling, legal codes, and social contracts hold no value, and the populace has no role beyond obedience.
His form of governance is akin to sermonizing, eradicating the gap between proclamation and execution.
Because the Taliban leader mandates the rule of the Islamic system, then the Islamic system indeed reigns. Because he preaches economic autonomy, the economy is self-sustaining, and because he mandates the end of discrimination,it is deemed to have ended.
However, governance and social life are not mere mental phenomena that can be shaped and improved with sermons and imagination. It won’t be long before Mullah Hibatullah is also thrown out of the bubble of his illusions and his imaginary emirate collapses.
