Afghanistan is a country that has been facing terrorism and religious extremism for a long time. If we look at the history of this extremism we will see its roots in the nationalists and Islamic movements that were initiated in Afghanistan. With time these movements became very famous due to the influence of figures like Sayd Jamaludin al-Afghani who promoted this movement with the help of the brotherhood ideologies. The conflict to remove the Communist Government of Afghanistan increases the extremism in the region and creates an environment that produces such young minds and people full of extremism. This was initiated and fueled by the US, Arab countries, and Pakistan. This environment created the movements like Taliban Movement and although the Taliban regime fell in 2001 its impact was so large that it created many other movements in the associated regions. Special institutes were operating that used to train the young minds for violent acts in the name of religion. If one is aiming to reduce this extremism he must understand the difference between violent and non-violent movements because in many cases peaceful and nonviolent people are crushed without any fault due to the violent groups. By negotiations with the nonviolent movement, a counterbalance approach can be achieved and it can help us gain knowledge of the causes and means that drives people to join these violent groups
Furthermore, the study was conducted to understand the extent of these activities. The majority of the locals showed their concern for the unstable environment while there was only a small minority that expressed their support toward the extremists. Moderate civil societies talked about this issue and said that their efforts to combat this extremism faced several threats from other Islamist and extremist organizations and they have a massive following among youth as well. The bad governance and political instability didn’t allow them to establish democracy in the country and Some non-violent groups were also seen as dangerous for both the Government and the Taliban. Overall the public demands the clarity of actions of non-violent groups and measures to stop the unstable situation and bring peace to the area. The study showed the method of recruitment and training of the Taliban and some of the people who joined the movements were driven toward it by the power and command it gives them and protection from the government in various situations. The madrassa which is supposed to give good Islamic knowledge is highly used by such organizations to brainwash the young minds and give them a wrong perception of their religion.
To conclude the issue required a common solution both from The Taliban and The government to eradicate the extreme culture and promote peace.
The writer is a student of “BS-IR” at “International Islamic University Islamabad” and a member of PYDIR.
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