Top Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk defended his group’s support for the Taliban in a recent interview, describing the Afghanistan-based terror group as a liberating force and a “patriotic Afghan movement” while blasting the United States for “inflicting severe injustice” upon the Afghan people by occupying their country.
In his remarks which aired on RT on Friday, Abu Marzouk, who serves as deputy chairman of the Hamas political bureau, accused America of occupying Afghanistan while praising the Taliban terrorists as “patriotic” liberators.
“The Taliban movement was in power in Afghanistan, and then the Americans came, occupied the country, and formed a government,” he said.
“A patriotic Afghan movement has now liberated the country, so what’s wrong with supporting it, and congratulating it on this victory?” he asked.
Claiming that “any form of occupation, in any country, is unacceptable,” the Hamas official blasted the “severe form of injustice” the Americans “inflicted” upon Afghans.
“Occupation is the most severe form of injustice that can be inflicted upon people,” he said. “So why wouldn’t we want the Afghan people to be liberated from the Americans?”
The Hamas leader then presented his position as one in the Afghan people’s interest,
“I believe that it is the duty of all the countries in the world to interact with the Afghans the way the Afghans want to be dealt with, and not the way the Europeans, the Americans, and NATO want,” he said, adding that none should interfere in the country’s internal affairs.
Claiming that the Afghans “chose the Taliban” despite the group’s opposition to any democratic election process, Abu Marzouk then asked, “What’s wrong with [supporting Taliban victory]?” before reiterating his group’s endorsement of the Taliban — which is infamous for its harsh treatment of those under its control.
“As for our congratulations,” he said, “Yes, we congratulate a liberation movement that liberated the country from colonialism.”
Earlier this month, Hamas — a U.S.-designated terrorist organization — congratulated the Taliban and Afghan people for “defeating” America.
The Gaza-ruling Islamic terror group also stated, “The demise of the American occupation and its allies proves that the resistance of the peoples, foremost of which is our struggling Palestinian people, will achieve victory.”
Top Hamas officials, including Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh, also met with Taliban leaders several weeks ago in Doha, with Taliban head Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar reportedly praising Hamas and its leaders “for their steadfast opposition to the Zionist enemy and the long-awaited victory.”
The recent success of the Taliban, which has declared its intentions of imposing a strict Islamic sharia law system on Afghans, has been a growing concern for various groups, including ethnic and religious minorities within Afghanistan.
According to human rights group Amnesty International, the Taliban recently “massacred” and brutally tortured members of Afghanistan’s Hazara minority.
“The cold-blooded brutality of these killings is a reminder of the Taliban’s past record, and a horrifying indicator of what Taliban rule may bring,” Amnesty’s Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters in a press conference Tuesday the terrorist organization is urging all women in Afghanistan to stay home for their safety as the group has not yet taught its own terrorists “how to deal with women.”
This month, the Taliban went “door-to-door” in some regions of Afghanistan to select girls as young as twelve to become “sex slaves” for the group’s jihadi fighters, News Corp Australia’s News.com.au reported.
Two weeks ago, a 33-year-old woman who claimed to have been brutalized by the Taliban after she was shot by insurgents and her eyes gouged out in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province in 2020, said that to them “women are not living, breathing human beings, but merely some meat and flesh to be battered.”
Christians, too, are also reportedly in danger.
The Barnabas Fund, which monitors Christian persecution around the world, warned Tuesday that Christians remaining in Afghanistan “are very likely to be killed” if caught by the Taliban, which applies sharia law literally.
The Taliban’s rise has also been seen as a boost for Islamic extremists worldwide, giving groups from Syria and Gaza to Pakistan and West Africa good reason to celebrate.
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.