Qatar Gives Space to Taliban to Gain an Edge over Saudi Arabia in Syrian War
New Age Islam Edit Desk
June 19, 2013
Qatar has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. The latest event in this series is the opening of Taliban’s office in Doha, Qatar. The excuse given behind it was that the office will facilitate dialogue between Taliban and the US and Afghanistan to end the war in Afghanistan. The office called ‘the political bureau of Taliban’ will reportedly help Taliban make contacts with the United Nations, the US and other countries of the world. The spokesman of Taliban, Zabihulalh Mujahid said that the purpose behind opening the political bureau in Qatar was to hold talks with the international community and to explore possibilities for the end of the war in Afghanistan.
The important angle of the event is that the Deputy Foreign Minister of Qatar, Ali Al Hajari and other government officials of Qatar were present. Md Nayeem, a spokesman of Taliban also held a press conference on the occasion.
Both the US and the Afghan government have shown their willingness to hold talks with Taliban. Earlier the talks were held in France which did not go much ahead. The US has been trying to bring Taliban on the dialogue table. However, the US have put some conditions for talks, one of them being breaking their ties with Al Qaida. The US will have talks with the Taliban on Thursday and the Afghan government will have talks with them later in the week.
But the question is: has the office or the political bureau of Taliban been opened in Qatar only for holding dialogues with the US and the Karzai government? The answer does not seem to be simple one.
Though the Taliban have been fighting against the NATO forces in Afghanistan who toppled their government in Afghanistan, of late they have made it very clear that their goal is to establish an Islamic caliphate on the models of the Caliphate founded in Madina in the first Islamic century. Through their Urdu and English mouth pieces, Nawa-e-Afghan Jihad and Azan respectively, they have been propagating their ideas and ideology of a global caliphate to be controlled by Taliban. Therefore, their mission is not merely to reclaim their lost seat of power and rest satisfied with the implementation of their version of Islam in Afghanistan but their ambitions are much more comprehensive. In their articles they have claimed to have got resources from a number of wealthy Muslim nations and individuals of the world and have claimed that with those powerful resources they could destroy all the big powers of the world.
Obviously, these claims cannot be made by a regional terrorist outfit relegated to the hilly dens of Afghanistan. Definitely they have the financial backing of some wealthy Muslim nations of the world.
Qatar is one of the wealthiest Muslim nations of the world and has been spared of the violence and anarchy of the Arab Spring. It has been in the news recently for taking active interest in promoting and providing financial assistance to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The interest of the Qataris in the political affairs of Egypt had evoked sarcastic criticism from the renowned Egyptian TV host Bassam Youssef who was later dragged to court by the Muslim Brotherhood and his show had to be suspended for some time.
Qatar has also been one of the nation’s along with Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia who are trying to topple the Shia regime of Syria and have pushed fighters in Syria and pumped funds to the rebel fighters including the terrorists of Al Qaida, Al Nusrah and Free Syrian Army.
The main motive behind Qatar facilitating Taliban’s arrival in the region is to gain an edge over Saudi Arabi in the war in Syria. Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been competing with each other to be in control of the opposition forces in Syria. With its political clout and the number of fighters sent in, Saudi Arabia finally managed to gain an edge over Qatar. Another reason for the failure of Qatar in the competition was the failure of its fighters in Syria where they were defeated by the forces of Assad and lost a strategic location.
The defeat angered the Saudis and decided to take the dominant role in the war against Assad. Now the Saudis are practically in charge of the opposition forces. Until now Qatar was the main supplier of arms to the rebel forces in the northern Syrian border provinces.
The interest of the Saudis in the Syrian war and in controlling the rebel forces is evident from the fact that Saudi officials met the Free Syrian Army rebels, military representatives of Jordan and Turkey and have assured them that they will help the rebels. Prince Salman bin Sultan and his brother Bandar bin Sultan are in direct touch with the rebels. This entire tussle between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is going on to have a dominant power in the transitional government to be set up by the US and the European forces after the expected removal of Assad government.
Not only that, the Saudi Arabia has now also decided to control the supply of funds to the rebels by making it mandatory for anyone willing to donate to the rebel cause to get the approval of the Saudi prince so that they could know what is going to whom.
It is this tussle of power that has prompted the Qatar government to allow Taliban to open their office in their country. Being a kingdom, the Saudi Arabia is suspicious of Islamists like Muslim Brotherhood who are backed financially by Qatar. Similarly, the US is also wary of Qatar’s proximity to the Islamists.
The US is dying to have dialogue with Taliban to end or allay their hostility against them. By allowing Taliban space in Qatar, the Qatari government now expects to balance the power deficit against the Saudis. The Qataris have the wealth. By having a battle hardened force like Taliban, they can now expect to gain an edge over Saudi Arabia both financially and militarily and have a share in power and say in the transitional government in case Assad is toppled.
For Taliban, they will get an opportunity to expand their power base and a greater space for bargaining with the US and the European forces. The Taliban’s official entry to the Middle East will give rise to extremism and terrorism and political instability in the region. The battle in Syria, it seems, will take more dramatic and vicious turns in near future.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/qatar-gives-space-taliban-gain/d/12156