In a ceremony held in Kabul to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Mujahideen’s victory over the Soviet Red Army, the Taliban introduced themselves as the sole heirs of the Afghan people’s jihad.
The meeting was held at the National Television Hall and a number of Taliban figures spoke at the event.
Fasihuddin Fitrat, the Taliban’s chief of staff, said in a threatening tone at the ceremony: “We fought for four and a half decades, if necessary, we will fight for thousands more years.”
He warned foreign countries against thinking of returning to Afghanistan and claimed that the history of this land is full of resistance against the occupiers.
In his speech, Fitrat accused the United States of igniting the flames of civil war after the Soviet defeat by fanning the flames of disagreement among the Mujahideen leaders. He claimed that the Taliban had prevented insecurity with their military action.
In another part of his speech, Fitrat accused former jihadi leaders of warlordism, power-seeking, and creating islands of power.
This is despite the fact that many former mujahideen who played a role in the fight against the Soviet army are among the main critics of the Taliban today. They condemn the Taliban’s monopolization, authoritarianism, oppression of women, and distortion of the ideals of national jihad.
The Taliban are confiscating the legacy of jihad while not only violating the values of that struggle, but also imposing a darker face on the country with their extremist policies of expanding repression, eliminating non-Pashtun ethnic groups, and gross violations of women’s rights.
