The Taliban recently took over the nation of Afghanistan following the Biden administration's decision to leave the country without following the previous administration's plan.
While most people might think that this is just about a group of radical insurgents conducting a massive power grab so they can rule over a nation, it is not - and the Taliban themselves admitted it.
Shortly after the takeover, a Taliban commander revealed to a reporter that they are planning to do more than just get Afghanistan. The militant, Muhammed Arif Mustafa, said,
"It's our belief that one day, mujahedin will have victory, and Islamic law will come not to just Afghanistan, but all over the world. We are not in a hurry. We believe it will come one day. Jihad will not end until the last day."
This revelation indicates that the Taliban are not just concerned about gaining political power over the nation of Afghanistan, or even other nations. They are waging a war based on Islamic law, but many including the media and even some in the Biden administration is downplaying it - and this is very concerning for Christians.
"Jihad is baked into the logic of the Koran"
Prominent theologian Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary pointed out in a recent "The Briefing" podcast that the mainstream media avoid emphasizing the fact that the Taliban are not just any regular army but are in reality a group of fighters motivated or driven by their religion.
"Notice how little attention, almost no attention at all, how much virtual silence you now hear in the mainstream media about the reality that the Taliban are not a secular army. They are a jihadist group of Islamic fighters," Mohler said.
"The mythology of the American Left is that theology does not matter and that any reference to Islam as in a clash of religious worldviews is just a form of disguised racism or something they often refer to as 'Islamophobia'," he added.
Mohler pointed out that some are led to downplay the Taliban's abuse of women as some sort of "tribal habit" in Afghanistan. This is wrong, as prior to the Taliban's takeover, women are able to go to school to study, and are allowed to live with more freedom. After the power grab, however, reports indicated that these freedoms have been taken away despite the jihadists' denials.
"It's interesting to hear people talk about the humanitarian disaster as if what would be taking place, including the oppression of women, is just based upon some kind of tribal habit in Afghanistan," the theologian said.
He explained that the Taliban's actions and agenda is driven by their faith - "It is what is claimed to be the application of the Quran," he said.
"And jihad is baked into the logic of the Koran, separating the entire world into the world of Islam and the world of war. What is the world of war? It is where faithful Muslims struggle to bring the yet unconquered parts of the world under the rule of Sharia law."
The recent takeover, and the Taliban's plans to subdue the entire world and place it under Islamic law, as revealed by Mustafa above, simply indicate that this is not a fight between secular governments, i.e. the U.S. versus the Taliban. Rather, it's a war of religious beliefs.
"It is coming with a religious, not a secular, authority; it is driven by religious, not secular, ambitions; it is driven by religious, not secular, passions," Mohler said.
"Yet another reminder for Christians that everything is theological. Sometimes you have to look under the surface. Sometimes, as in this case, it's right on the surface. It is the surface."
