Taliban Exploit Local Religious Sentiment to Target Dutch and Danish Troops

Recent statements from Taliban spokesmen offer signs of massive changes in the insurgency at the beginning of the new Hijri (Islamic) year, when the cold weather passes and the Taliban restart their war against government and Coalition forces in Afghanistan.

The coming year is expected to be the deadliest since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Taliban spokesman Zabihollah Mojahed recently warned that their war will continue, declaring that NATO members’ differences over the conduct of the Afghanistan war were a sign of the international community’s defeat in this volatile country (Afghan Islamic Press Agency, March 5).

An indication of what might be expected came last October when Mullah Berader, the deputy leader of the Taliban, announced that the movement’s strategy for the coming spring involved surrounding Kabul. According to Berader, the Taliban have divided Afghanistan into four zones and plan to destabilize the eastern zone, where the experienced Taliban leader Maulavi Abdul Kabir has been appointed commander for the coming offensive (Al-Samood, October 7, 2007).

It is widely accepted that the Taliban will initiate a surge of violence in the coming spring, but more importantly, the insurgents are emerging onto the political scene. In a Taliban statement published on March 5, the insurgents’ spokesman described the Taliban “political commission,” which plays an important role in the public diplomacy of the Taliban. For the first time since the ouster of the group from power, its spokesman has talked about a political commission. The statement outlined the group’s positions on international issues, condemning the recent UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran and conveying its stance on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Most importantly, the statement offers Taliban views on the republication of cartoons insulting to the Prophet Mohammad and the new anti-Quran film “Fitna,” produced by Dutch politician Geert Wilders (Afghan Islamic Press, March 5). There are reports that al-Qaeda has called for its followers to murder Wilders and conduct a terrorist campaign across Holland to prevent the film’s broadcast (De Telegraaf, February 27). NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that the film might inspire new attacks against NATO troops in Afghanistan, but Dutch Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop has downplayed the possibility (Radio Netherlands Worldwide, March 11).

The Taliban seem eager to exploit the religious sentiments of the Afghan people, now aroused by the controversial European attacks on Islam. Mass protests in the major cities of Afghanistan took place after the republication of the “Muhammad cartoons” in Berlingske Tidende, a Danish newspaper (Reuters, March 9). On March 3, in the northern Balkh province, a mass demonstration against the Geert Wilders film and the republication of the cartoons took place. The protesters called on the government to expel the Dutch and Danish embassies and to sever diplomatic relations with the two nations. The crowds also demanded the withdrawal of 1,600 Dutch and 800 Danish soldiers from Afghanistan (Gulf Times Daily, March 3). The Dutch soldiers are stationed in volatile Uruzgan province while the Danish soldiers contribute to British forces in Helmand province. There were also mass protests in the eastern Nangarhar and western Herat provinces during the last week.

The protests’ alarming demand is the withdrawal of the two countries’ forces from Afghanistan. It is the first time since the fall of the Taliban that popular demands have been issued for the withdrawal of foreign troops. These demands are also the only precondition of the Taliban for peace talks.

Recent events indicate two major threats to the security of Afghanistan that will certainly have a negative impact on the government of Afghanistan as well as the international community.

First and foremost, there appears to be an increased danger for Danish and Dutch troops stationed in southern Afghanistan, an unstable region controlled partly by the Taliban and its followers. The republication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons and production of the anti-Quran film have given the Taliban a major recruiting angle. The Taliban’s logic, as reflected in their recent statement, is that foreign forces are fighting Islam in Afghanistan, so they should be countered through jihad and holy war in response (Afghan Islamic Press, March 5). Taliban recruiting efforts rely on the ultra-conservative religious attitudes of the Afghans, who have often participated in wars for religious motives.

Secondly, since the surge of violence in 2005, some local media outlets and political circles have questioned the legality of the foreign troops’ presence in Afghanistan. Now a widespread demand for their withdrawal is emerging, indicating that anti-government elements have been successful in promoting anti-Western sentiments in Afghanistan. Unless NATO and its international allies can quickly demonstrate they are not against Muslims nor are they interested in promoting Islamophobia, there is a danger of a new holy war erupting, similar to that which expelled the once-mighty USSR from Afghanistan.