Women to wear hijab,
Stonings and amputations to continue,
Afghan President has now absconded,
All the girls in uni told to sit home,
All land borders now under Taliban control.
May God be with the people there.
There are huge lessons here for Nigeria.
For people who think that ideological and religious extremism is not such a big deal. Well, Afghanistan is a proof that so much can go wrong in a short time if people hold on to an ideology that is potentially destructive and retrograde.
This whole Afghanistan takeover by the Talibans happened after 20 years of American presence in Afghanistan.
The moment America started to withdraw, the Taliban takeover started and is now fully in force.
Why was it so easy?
Because you do NOT win an ideological war with bombs.
The West needs to know- and know now- you can NOT kill an ideology with guns and tanks or by military occupation.
You have to engage ideological war with ideological methods/strategies. Not with an imposition of your own views on the locals.
It has never worked. It never will.
And this is why it is very ridiculous that anybody thinks the Nigerian war against Boko Haram will be won strictly by bombs and guns.
Boko Haram, ISWAP or whatever you call them are ideological warriors. That means you can never win by conventional warfare.
We are in deep shit.
We as Nigerians must deal with our own warfare early on now with ideological strategies - otherwise we will wake up one day in our own version of Afghanistan. Or at least core Northern Nigeria may fall to these poisonous ideologies and ISWAP may easily become the Govt of the day.
There’s a reason the Nigerian Army is compromised. Some soldiers see these terrorists as their “brothers”. Why? Same religion. Same tribe.
How do you think it will be easy for someone to fight/kill someone who he deeply sees as his spiritual “brother” from the same tribe?
We have terrorists and terrorists sympathisers in Govt.
We have senators and cabinet ministers who strongly believe in these extremist ideologies.
How do you fight a “war” against criminals that your own government officials are sympathetic to and considers them as “brothers”?
I pray for Nigeria and I wish us the best. I pray for Afghanistan and I wish them well.
However as Nigerians observing global events, please do NOT think the events of the Taliban Takeover in Afghanistan is impossible” in Nigeria.
It’s only a matter of time.
If nothing is done.
So what can we do?
Ideological engagement.
The only way forward.
The people who breed this terrorists are usually the emirs, imaams, scholars and religious leaders.
Those are the people teaching these poisonous ideologies. Those are the people you need to engage and appeal to.
You can’t bomb all the emirs and religious scholars. You can’t kill all the imams and alfas
You have to reach out to these people - through the moderate sensible ones among them- and then intellectually engage them.
Remember: you can only kill people.
You can NOT kill ideology.
In conclusion:
We have a very long way to go.
We either sort out this nasty problem now in Nigeria- or wake up one day in Nigerianistan. A new country where Nigerian Talibans are in charge of government, speech and our daily lives.
The choice is ours to make.
God bless Nigeria.
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