The Taliban
In the 20 years since the war in Afghanistan began our collective memory about the Taliban has been slowly erased with the fog of time.
As I thought and reminisced, I was reminded that I was only 35 when these events began to unfold. In the intervening years, many men and women have died and many have had their lives upended by the surging tide of war.
To be sure radical Islam was wounded in the endeavor but make no mistake it has a long memory and a short fuse.
The Taliban of today is no more our friend than Tom was a friend to Jerry.Afghanistan has always been one of the powder kegs of the world. Isolated and remote it nevertheless sits at the crossroads of vast stretches of central Asian riches that empires have long lusted to control.
If you want to know more about this region and its role in history I would recommend to you the books by Peter Hopkirk, specifically The Great Game.
The title Taliban comes from the Pashto language and means something akin to “student” or “seeker”. It represents a form of Islam that longs to see Islam spread to every corner of the globe through violence and oppression.
It is especially repressive of women. Western culture and all its entertainment and recreation is viewed as part of the great Satan and is squashed from life.
Sharia law forms the basis of its civic organization.
Make no mistake, the Taliban is no friend to our faith. A recent convert to Jesus from Afghanistan wrote this:
They will kill the known Christians and want to spread fear. There are already posters appearing that if you have single girls, 15 years old, you have to marry them to Taliban soldiers. Christians fear their daughters will be taken away from them and forced to marry Taliban. They will be sent to madrasas to brainwash them.
The parents may or may not be killed. . . . One man received a letter that his house now belongs to the Taliban. He is a simple man who makes crafts and his entire savings are in his house.
The Taliban will take the property and assets of the Christians and all their women will be taken.
We need to pray for our brothers and sisters and work to see them secure.
Because of grace,
Tim
