A former aviation minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has asserted that he believes that Islamists are here to stay following the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.
The Taliban has since renamed the country the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan less than 48hours after the takeover.
But reacting through in an essay published on his social media handle, Chief Fani-Kayode noted that ‘militant and radical Islam is almost irresistible in battle because its adherents are committed unto death.’
Fani-Kayode wrote, ‘One of the things we will have to come to terms with no matter how difficult and unpleasant it may be is the fact that the overwhelming majority of people in Afghanistan want and support the Taliban. Had this not been the case they could not have won this 20-year war.
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‘Militant and radical Islam is almost irresistible in battle because its adherents are committed unto death.
‘Those that are committed to liberation through jihad are extremely difficult to contend with because their ideological commitment is total and religious beliefs are sacrosanct.
‘You cannot fight a man who is not afraid to die and who considers it an honour to be killed in defence of his faith.
‘That is the Salafist and Wahabbi doctrine and philosophy and in many ways, it is compelling even though I deplore the violence that goes with it.
‘Islam is a unifying force amongst its adherents and a powerful rallying cry and points for those who opt to resist what they regard as bondage, injustice and tyranny.
‘Sadly, Christianity lost that power years ago when it became watered down by liberalism, humanism, and the permissive society, which rejected all the old Christian norms and values and established the secular state.
‘The Church was also relegated in its authority when it came to matters of governance and barred from exerting any political influence.
‘Consequently, as Christianity waned in its political power, Islam grew stronger.
‘Under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, the Shia Islamists of Iran defeated the Shah of Iran and his American allies through a people’s revolution in 1979 which has endured till today.
‘The Sunni Islamists of Afghanistan, through Al Qaeda, defeated the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and in 2021 they have defeated the Americans through the Taliban.
‘The world must now accept that the Islamists are here to stay and that whether we like it sooner or later, other nations in the African, Arab, and Islamic world may follow their path.
‘Take it or leave it, this is the bitter truth’.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK