Here I am talking about the Taliban of Kuwait that the wise government allowed to talk and act freely. We, the people of Kuwait, have contributed to putting some of them on the parliamentary seats in the colorless and tasteless National Assembly. The Gulf Street parliamentarians took the Taliban of Afghanistan as their Godfather. The West, led by the United States of America, along with the Arab countries, helped in the growth of Taliban before finding out the truth. We found out later that the Taliban would demolish our countries and turn them into Taliban replicas. We and the West supported Taliban, because of the fear that Afghanistan would fall into the hands of the then ‘atheist’ Soviet Union. Nevertheless, what happened was much worse than the spread of communism. Actually, Taliban established a regime that cannot be compared to communist regime in terms of killing innocent people and slavery.
No one noticed what the Taliban ideology did to Saudi Arabia before and after the establishment of the Saudi royal rule. They killed and displaced thousands of people in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia, as well as in Iraqi cities, specifically Najaf and Karbala, just because the latter belong to a different sect. They committed such crimes despite the fact that Islam is based on respect for others and leaving judgment to Allah Almighty on who is righteous and sinful on Doomsday.
Kuwait witnessed some of their criminal acts like the massacre in Al-Sadiq Mosque on a Friday during Ramadan, resulting in hundreds of injuries and deaths. Only HH the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah rushed to the crime scene and insisted on entering the mosque, ignoring the security warnings. We clearly remember his unforgettable response: “They are my children.” This statement was recorded in history with letters written in gold. However, some parties insisted on highlighting the so-called Abdally Cell crime. We all agree that collecting and storing weapons is illegal and unacceptable. However, I believe they collected the weapons to defend themselves in case the Taliban troops in North Iraq invaded Kuwait after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. In the middle of the 1990s, two containers full of weapons were found in a farm in Abdally; yet none of the Salafis who collected such a quantity of weapons were sued or detained. They justified the collection of weapons by saying that their aim was to protect themselves in case Saddam repeated his crime and invaded Kuwait again.
Thus, we are not surprised by the recent terrorist suicide bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan; which led to over 100 deaths and 150 injuries. Strangely, the victims belong to the same sect adopted by Taliban.
I would like to address the Kuwaiti Taliban who opted to remain silent over the terrorist attack and focus on chanting nonsensical slogans; while the parliamentary Values and Negative Phenomenon Committee keeps on interfering in the personal life of individuals, especially women and girls. Woe to you, your turn is coming soon.
By Ali Ahmed Al-Baghli
Former Minister of Oil
