Anger as BBC guest says: Every Muslim I know is celebrating
A BBC radio guest has sparked outrage after she claimed that ‘every single Muslim’ she knows is ‘celebrating’ the Taliban victory in Afghanistan.
Khola Hasan, a scholar at the UK Islamic Sharia Council, said that British Muslims believe the Taliban should be ‘given a chance’.
And if they turned into ‘monsters’ it would be the fault of the West for treating them ‘like Nazis or the Ku Klux Klan’ instead of ‘giving them a helping hand’, she added.
Her extraoardinary comments sparked an angry response from an Afghan women’s rights campaigner who described the militant group as ‘terrorist killers’.
Filmmaker Diana Saqeb Jamal said it was ‘insane’ to claim that the Taliban had changed, adding that people who don’t live in Afghanistan ‘should shut their mouths’.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme yesterday, host William Crawley challenged Miss Hasan’s claim that the Taliban had a better understanding of human rights than when they were in power 20 years ago.
He pointed out that Afghans were so desperate to flee the country last week that they risked their lives by clinging onto planes.
Miss Hasan replied: ‘For the past 20 years when the Taliban were not in control – NATO, American and British forces were in control – young Afghan men were getting in dinghies trying to get to Europe.
‘Thousands drowned. Why are we focusing on those trying to get out now?’
Asked if her opinion of the Taliban was a ‘commonly held view’ among British Muslims, Miss Hasan said: ‘Every single person I know as a Muslim – whether on social media or as friends – are celebrating.
‘[They are] saying: “Give them a chance, they have been ruled by foreigners for 40 years, let the people of Afghanistan rule their own country and determine their own fate for a change.”’
Her comments led to a heated exchange with Miss Saqeb Jamal, who insisted that the Taliban’s approach to women’s rights has not changed.
‘They have been killing us for 25 years for going to school, voting and going to work,’ she said.
Confronting Miss Hasan, she added: ‘How can you say they are people?
‘They aren’t – they are killers. I am so angry. They took my childhood.’
However, Miss Hasan insisted that dialogue with the Taliban was essential, adding: ‘If we talk to them and show them a better way of living they will learn from us. If we ostracise them we will make worse things happen.’
Earlier in the programme Miss Hasan said she was ‘grateful’ for the language used publicly by the Taliban since taking control.
Asked about reports that women and children are being whipped by the militants, she claimed that Afghanistan was a ‘tribal society’ and that the Taliban are ‘forgiving the past’.
‘Give them a chance’