Three Years After the US-Taliban Agreement

News:

John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the US National Security Council, told VOA in his recent interview: “We are working to ensure that the Taliban keep their pledges. We have not yet recognized them as a legitimate government and do not have any immediate plans to do so.” Three years passed since the US-Taliban agreement was signed in Doha. The Doha agreement was signed on 29th February 2020 between the US and the Taliban after a series of lengthy and controversial negotiations. Both parties, even after three years, still hold each other responsible for the violation of the agreement. The Islamic Emirate is accused by the US of violating the deal by providing shelter and support to ‘terrorists’ in the country; however, the Islamic Emirate asserts that the US has violated the agreement on numerous occasions and continues to do so.

Comment:

The Part Two (articles no. 1 & 2) of the Doha Agreement declares that the Islamic Emirate will not allow its members and other groups to use the soil of Afghanistan against the US and its allies, and will convey a clear message about it. The following is stated in the first clause: “The Islamic Emirate which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban will not allow any of its members, other individuals or groups, including al-Qaida, to use the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States and its allies.” The United States argues that the Islamic Emirate has not lived up to this clause, but the truth is that no threat has been posed to the security of the United States and its allies from the soil of Afghanistan as of yet.

However, the commitments made by the US as stated in the Doha Agreement are either fully unfulfilled or implemented with significant delays, some of which are highlighted below:

1. The US agreed to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan within 14 months, but it did not do so, postponing it for more than five months.

2. The US agreed to release 5000 Taliban prisoners within 10 days of signing the agreement, but it took six months.

3. The US pledged to remove the names of Taliban commanders and members from sanctions and rewards list by August 27, 2020, but this has yet to materialize – even the FBI doubled the prize for anyone having information on the whereabouts of the Islamic Emirate’s current acting Interior Minister from $5 million to $10 million.

4. The United States agreed to remove the names of Taliban officials from the United Nations blacklist by May 29, 2020; however, some of the names have yet to be removed and some have been removed temporarily but not permanently. The point is that this is now used as a means of ‘Stick Policy’ against the Islamic Emirate.

5. The United States had pledged to respect Afghanistan’s territorial integrity and airspace privacy, but it still operates drones over Afghan airspace and has carried out various attacks, one of which led to the martyrdom of Al-Qaeda leader Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

Additionally, the US made many other commitments which have not been fulfilled. The US’s violation of the Doha Agreement demonstrates that it neither respects nor considers it necessary to follow through on its commitments and agreement. This serves as a strong reminder to Muslims and Islamic movements to not believe in the promises, agreements and commitments of infidels, particularly those made by the US. According to Shariah and the teachings of our religion, Muslims are obligated to live up with the treaties, pacts, agreements and promises; but in contrast, the West and Americans regard ‘agreements’ as a way to get rid of troubles in order to gain opportunity to weaken and/or defeat the other side. Americans didn’t live up to this agreement because violating agreements is ingrained in Western culture. It must be noted that the US has been considered as one of the biggest violators of the treaties and pacts in the international level.

Therefore, the Islamic Emirate must not submit to the pressures of the US, the West, or the United Nations and must not abide by an agreement with them because they have already violated their commitments. Instead, the Islamic Emirate must concentrate and rely on the Islamic Ummah and their political, military, and economic capabilities. It is because the Islamic Ummah has the capacity to expand the Islamic Emirate into a broad rightly-guided Caliphate (Khilafah -e- Rashidah) by uniting the Central Asia along with South Asia under the umbrella of Afghanistan followed by implementation of the Islamic law (Shariah) internally. Besides, along with its Islamic foreign policy, it would unite the Islamic lands, and would then carry Islam to every corner of the world through the ‘Call for Islam’ (Dawah) and ‘Jihad’. As a result, the infidels would no longer think of defeating such an enormous rightly-guided Caliphate because their well-equipped troops have been defeated harshly by Ummah’s combatants (Jihadi) groups, making it difficult for them to stand again against the invincible military of the Islamic state.

[وَإِن نَّكَثُوا أَيْمَانَهُم مِّن بَعْدِ عَهْدِهِمْ وَطَعَنُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ فَقَاتِلُوا أَئِمَّةَ الْكُفْرِ إِنَّهُمْ لَا أَيْمَانَ لَهُمْ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَنتَهُونَ]

“But if they break their pledges after making them and attack your faith, make war on the leaders of infidels that they may desist, for they have no regard for their pledged words.” [TMQ 9:12]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Saifullah Mustanir
Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Afghanistan