Great comment here from a man who I have the utmost respect for, Apostate Prophet, on the subject of Afghanistan. Basically he’s saying that the Taliban have come back not because the Taliban are oppressing freedom loving Afghans, but because the Afghans on the whole support the Taliban and want to live in a seventh century Islamist dung heap.

Apostate Prophet pointed out that the vast majority of Afghans, according to Pew reports, want Sharia Law, want women to be caged in Burkhas and who want apostates from Islam to be killed. Afghanistan is not, according to Apostate Prophet, a country yearning to be free, but instead one that longs to be bound in the gruesome chains of Islam.

Apostate Prophet, as someone very well versed in Islamic theology, also pointed out that although both ISIS and the Taliban want a fully Islamic state, there are major theological differences between the Taliban and groups like ISIS. ISIS, he pointed out, are based upon Salafi Islam which is much more centred on the Arab world whereas the Taliban have their roots in Deobandi Islam. This last point should be a matter of concern for some Western countries in particular the United Kingdom. This is because the Deobandis or those groups that are theologically adjacent to them, according to a 2014 Spectator article, control 45% of British mosques. Whilst of course the vast majority of those attending these mosques may be peaceful and integrated individuals who want nothing to do with extremism, the fact that the same theological current that is behind the Taliban also has a lot of influence over British mosques and what is taught in them should not be ignored.

The assessment of the Afghan situation by Apostate Prophet is extremely grim. He’s probably correct though. A group like the Taliban could not end up controlling Afghanistan without a high degree of support from the Afghan people. He said that all those Afghans who wanted to live in freedom and not live under Shariah Law have probably already left and are living peaceful lives in other countries. Again Apostate Prophet speaks the truth here. All those educated and forward looking Afghans who dislike or despise Shariah Law and want to live much more freely, probably left years ago, either during the first period of Taliban rule or during the last couple of decades when there was a Western presence in Afghanistan.

There are I’m afraid, two methods which the West could deal with Afghanistan. The first would be to occupy it and occupy it brutally for a century or more, a policy that would be financially and politically unsustainable. Or the West could do what has been done in the past, whenever the Afghans have become trouble which is to a penetrate, punish and then pull out policy. In this policy should Islamic terror groups set up shop in Afghanistan then a small force should penetrate the country, punish the particular group and then pull out and leave Afghanistan. There is something to be said for leaving Afghanistan as a ‘cautionary tale’, a seventh century Islamic theme park so that normal people can see just what happens when Islam controls a nation.

Here’s Apostate Prophet’s excellent video on Afghanistan