PESHAWAR: The religious parties on Monday hailed the ‘victory’ of the Tehreek Taliban Afghanistan and appreciated its leadership’s policy of ‘reconciliation and modesty’.

In a message issued to the leadership of the Afghan Taliban here on Monday, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said his party had called the attack of the US and Nato forces on Afghanistan an invasionfrom the day one and declared the Afghan Taliban’s resistance legitimate.

“The JUI-F appreciates restoration of normalcy, peace, and policy of reconciliation, which the Afghan Taliban’s leadership has initiated after securing victory,” he said, adding that ‘Mujahidin’ had liberated their country from foreign invaders and their agents through sacrifices.

“I congratulate Taliban leader Maulvi Hibatullah over this historic victory,” he wrote in the letter.

The JUI-F leader hoped that the Afghan Taliban would succeed in forming a stable Islamic Afghanistan through better strategy, wisdom and sincerity.

Fazl hopes Afghanistan will get stable govt, Siraj appreciates general amnesty

He said the Afghan nation and JUI-F desired for the success of the Taliban and offered full support to them on behalf of his party.

Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq also congratulated the Afghan Taliban and the people of Afghanistan and said the defeat of American imperialist force in Afghanistan was a landmark victory for the entire Ummah.

In a statement issued by the party’s provincial secretariat, the JI chief said the Afghan nation first expelled Soviet Union from its motherland and now defeated the US, Nato and its puppets, who ruled the country for over two decades.

He said India, which was using the Afghan territory against Pakistan, had also been wiped out.

Mr Siraj said international norms and values were bulldozed to topple the Taliban government in 2001 and puppet governments were installed in Kabul afterwards.

He said the Afghan Taliban took over Kabul without bloodshed and violence amid negative propaganda unleashed by the western media.

The JI leader appreciated the announcement of general amnesty by the Afghan Taliban leadership and hoped that a stable and inclusive government would be established in Afghanistan in the coming days.

He said the new government would be reflective of aspirations of the Afghan people that would culminate in establishing the supremacy of Islamic laws.

Mr Siraj said Pakistan and Afghanistan would set up good relations in future.

He said his party had always supported resistance against foreign forces in Afghanistan and the stay of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

The JI leader demanded of the government not to allow the country’s airspace for attacks in Afghanistan.

Also, the JUI-Sami welcomed the fall of Kabul to the Afghan Taliban and said the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in a peaceful way.

Addressing a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Monday, head of his own faction of the JUI Maulana Hamidul Haq said the Afghan Taliban achieved their objectives after 20 years long struggle full of selfless sacrifices.

He said only enemies of peace would oppose the Taliban government and the international community would recognise the new government in Kabul.

Mr Haq said the installation of the new Afghan government would take at least two to three weeks.

He said stability in Afghanistan would bring peace to Pakistan, so Islamabad should take decisions in favour of the new government in Kabul.

The JUI-S leader said the US couldn’t protect ‘corrupt’ rulers in Kabul despite spending billions of dollars.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2021