Director of the Muslims Rights Concern, Ishaq Akintola, has urged the world to give the Taliban, who have shot themselves into power in Afghanistan, a chance to govern.
According to him, they have learnt their lesson and are not expected to cross the line.
Akintola spoke while reflecting on the development in the country, where the Taliban sacked the government after the United States of America pulled out its troops.
Akintola said there was a lesson for all and sundry in the scenario, especially as the US only went there for its own interest.
‘The Punch” quoted Akintola as saying: “We went to Afghanistan almost 20 years ago with clear goals: get those who attacked us on Sept. 11, 2001, and make sure Al Qaeda could not use Afghanistan as a base from which to attack us again. We did that. We severely degraded Al Qaeda and Afghanistan. We never gave up the hunt for Osama bin Laden and we got him,” he stated.
However, in an interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday, MURIC Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola accused America of fleeing the country after allegedly deceiving Afghans for 20 years.
“America deceived Afghans by using them to dig in in Afghanistan. After invading Afghanistan, America remained there for 20 years with the support of some locals. Now, what have they (Afghans) gained from it?
“America has no problem, it is its national interest as far as America is concerned.
“It is an interesting development and this is a big lesson for developing countries, particularly Nigeria, a developing democracy. Those who are in the habit of harassing their Nigeria, intimidating the government and even citizens with threats of reporting them to America, to Britain, to France, relying on foreign powers to get what they do not deserve to learn a good lesson from this.
“No foreign power will give your country what will benefit your country. Foreign powers, colonial masters will always seek their own interest, work for their own interest. They will never make you benefit from democratic dividends from which your country and the citizens will gain.
“Matthew Kukah just returned from America to speak at the American Congress, of course, on invitation. They are deceiving themselves, America will not come to Nigeria to benefit Nigerians. America will not go to Afghanistan to benefit Afghanistan.
“When Biden spoke yesterday (Monday), you can see the nationalistic impulse in him. He was talking about the interest of America not that of the Afghanistan people. He told the American people that their interest lies in what concerns America, American security.
“Now, America has abandoned the Afghans after using them. Imagine how Afghans trooped out to the airport and are running after an American Air Force plane in order to fly them out but this was the same America that deceived them. And these were the locals who wanted to run away after America used them to target Osama bin Laden and others.”
