OPINION:
One of the founders of the Taliban, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, told The Associated Press in an interview that he will be bringing back executions and amputations as punishments for Islamic lawbreakers — though whether those acts of cruelty will be carried out in public, as in times pasts, is still unclear.
President Biden, Team Taliban’s best friend.
For almost 20 years, Afghanistan has seen slow but sure progress on the human rights front — on the women’s equality front. Then came Biden and whoosh, like a wisp of smoke, it all disappeared.
And for those holdouts who want to cast a sunny ray into the darkness that has swept across the tribal nation — this, an unapologetic explanation of the return to Shariah, from Turabi: “No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Koran.”
Message to civil society? Back off.
“Everyone criticized us for the punishments [we used to hold] in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi went on.
Yes. Probation is the same as a prison sentence is the same as a hand amputation is the same as a public flogging is the same as an entertainment-style execution. Turabi and his Taliban adherents don’t criticize America’s Constitution; why should America criticize the Taliban’s strict and archaic Shariah laws?
Biden really created a bungle with his hasty, ill-planned, even iller-executed withdrawal from Afghanistan. And it’s not just horrific times for lawbreakers.
“Taliban limits on education crushes dreams for two generations of Afghan women,” The Washington Post wrote.
From the Wall Street Journal: “Trapped in Kabul, Prominent Afghan Women Fear Retribution Under Taliban Rule.”
From CBS News: “As Taliban robs Afghan women and girls of work, school and safety, the most vulnerable ‘have nowhere to go.’”
From Zahra Joya, a journalist who was airlifted out of Afghanistan to British safety — her sad commentary of the situation, reported in The Guardian: “Right to the end, on that afternoon of 15 August, I couldn’t believe what was happening. It was like a bad dream. Even on that day, it just seemed impossible that the Taliban could come to power so quickly, wipe away 20 years and drag us all back to the past.”
Joe Biden, meet Taliban.
Taliban, meet Joe Biden.
Cue “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” by Randy Newman.
The only way Afghanistan’s lights will be turned back on now is by military might. Even then, thanks to the Biden Special, the Taliban is heavily armed with top-grade, top-of-the-line but left-behind U.S. military equipment. That’s to say, the next fight against them would be even worse. What a mess.
Yep, Taliban beasts are back in charge, they’re hastily instilling cruel Shariah crackdowns, and they’re completely unapologetic.
They’re emboldened and arrogant. And why shouldn’t they be?
Their bestie in the White House has got their back.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.
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