In a recent interview with The New York Times in Kabul, Afghanistan’s foreign minister formally invited the United States to reopen its embassy and invest in Afghanistan’s infrastructure and mineral sectors, stating: “We consider the chapter of war to have come to an end, and from now on, we want relations based on mutual respect and the beginning of a new chapter of positive engagement.”

Speaking of the “end of the chapter of war” with a state that is engaged in a broad and hostile war against the Islamic Ummah is a strategic error and an act of turning a blind eye to an undeniable reality. The United States is the leader of global kufr (disbelief) and the principal enemy of the Muslims. Although the United States is not currently waging a military war in Afghanistan, an Ummah-centric perspective makes it clear that America is, at this very moment, fighting Muslims on several fronts and is at the forefront of those conflicts. The United States plays a role in the war in Yemen and the bloody crisis in Sudan; it provides the Jewish entity with unlimited military, political, and arms support in the genocide of the people of Palestine and Lebanon; it has also pursued policies of pressure, sanctions, and confrontation against Iran. Alongside these developments, it supports the Indian government’s policies of occupation and repression against Muslims, the escalation of tensions by Pakistan against Afghanistan, and the imposition of political, economic, and security pressures on Afghanistan.

In the scale of Islam, the criterion of al-walāʾ wa al-barāʾ is not determined by colonial borders or nationalist concepts. Hostility toward the United States is rooted in the fundamental confrontation between kufr and Islam. Ignoring the crimes of this colonial power across the Muslim lands under the pretext of national interests constitutes a departure from the principles of the Islamic creed and a disregard for the unified political outlook of Islam. Moreover, America’s hostility toward Afghanistan has never ended. The absence of a physical U.S. military presence does not mean that the war has ended or that peace has been established; rather, the United States has shifted its approach from direct military warfare to economic and political pressure and intelligence operations. The freezing and seizure of billions of dollars in central-bank reserves, the imposition of economic sanctions, violations of Afghanistan’s airspace sovereignty, and an extensive propaganda campaign against Islamic values all continue with full force. Therefore, from the Islamic legal perspective, establishing any diplomatic, political, or economic relationship with an “actively belligerent state” whose hands are stained with Muslim blood is invalid and prohibited.

On the other hand, inviting American companies and the U.S. government to extract Afghanistan’s minerals and gain control over its infrastructure carries a twofold disaster.

First, Western capitalist states have always viewed weaker lands as prey to be plundered. This predatory policy was made fully evident in the recent agreements concerning Ukraine, where U.S. assistance was tied to gaining control over and managing mineral resources, oil, and gas, effectively amounting to a form of “colonial-style asset seizure.”

Second, the minerals and natural resources of Muslim lands are the public property of the Ummah and must be utilized for the interests and strength of the Muslims and for making the Deen manifest. Since strategic minerals play a vital role in missile industries, radar systems, and defense and military technologies, handing over these vital resources amounts to helping sustain America’s colonial power, weakening the Muslims, and strengthening the sword of an enemy that uses them to manufacture missiles and bombs which are then dropped upon the oppressed people of Gaza, Lebanon, and other Muslim lands.

Afghanistan’s foreign minister had also previously stated that: “I believe President Trump’s ability to make deals, his pragmatic approach, and his decisiveness are factors that can facilitate constructive engagement with his administration.” Such a perception of American politicians, particularly Donald Trump, stands in complete contradiction to the Islamic perspective. Trump’s view of the world is thoroughly possessive and colonial in nature. He continues to harbor ambitions of taking control of Bagram Air Base, supports the complete usurpation of Palestine, and now brazenly speaks of declaring the Strait of Hormuz part of U.S. territory.

Do you insist on pursuing close engagement with someone who not only fights Islam in practice, but openly proclaims his hostility in words as well? During his first presidential term, Trump explicitly declared: “We will unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.”

Therefore, instead of placing your hopes in Western colonial powers and entering into deals with them, extend the hand of brotherhood to the Muslims—your true friends - who call you toward the source of genuine honor: the re-establishment of the Second Rightly Guided Caliphate (Khilafah Rashidah) upon the Method of the Prophethood. This true call, unlike Western pragmatic politics, is not a commercial or economic transaction; rather, it is a great transaction with Allah (swt). Granting support to this dawah will lead you to honor, power, and a position of leadership in the world, just as Islam once raised the divided and ignorant Arabs from the margins of history to a position of leadership and command over the world.

[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا الْكَافِرِينَ أَوْلِيَاءَ مِن دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۚ أَتُرِيدُونَ أَن تَجْعَلُوا لِلَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ سُلْطَانًا مُّبِينًا]

“O you who believe! Do not take the disbelievers as allies instead of the believers. Do you wish to give Allah a clear proof against yourselves?” [Surah An-Nisa: 144]