‘Narrow Perspective’: Ex-Afghan VP Lashes Out At Zakir Nair For Praising Taliban At Pak Event

Former Afghanistan Vice President Amrullah Saleh on Friday lambasted controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik for supporting Taliban rule. Saleh urged Naik to abandon several practices, including, wearing suits, restricting women participants in his sessions, not getting snapped, and other things, if he aligns with the Talibani mindset.

In a long post on X, the former Vice President said, “Dr. Zakir Naik! If you want to align yourself with the Taliban then please do the following. Or be aware of the following: don’t wear suit, don’t wear a tie, don’t allow any female participant in your sermons & lectures, speak from behind the curtain and do not allow anyone to film or photograph you, issue a fatwa to reduce the women to domestic slaves & mere shadows in the society, normalize racism, steal the national income of the country and provide zero social services, exploit poverty and destitution of families and give the hands of their underage girls and daughters to your fighters & followers. Very simple, get secret payment from multiple intelligence agencies (maybe you already do), be the reason for escape of over eight million people from their country & from their homes, define the heaven as a care-house for a small minority with lisence from Habatullah and his Kandahar/Kach-lagh clique. In Habatullah’s view & judgement you don’t merit that certificate either, and, reach a ceasfire deal with the CIA but continue to kill your own fellow compatriots.”

Saleh further hit out at Naik and said that his remarks were disappointing for millions of Afghans who are suffering under the wrath of the Taliban. Accusing Naik of having a narrow perspective, Saleh said, “Your positive commentary about the Taliban was very disappointing for tens of millions of Afghan people. It was naive. No doubt have a sharp memory but a very narrow perspective. Please don’t comment about Afghanistan again. Except pronouncing the name of our country in an anglicized way, your knowledge seems to be zero about us.”

Saleh’s response came after Naik reportedly praised Taliban in a public event in Pakistan.

On August 15, 2021—just two weeks before US troops were set to officially withdraw from Afghanistan—Taliban leaders entered the capital city of Kabul and swept back into power with little resistance. The Afghan government collapsed, the country’s president Ashraf Ghani fled, and many desperate Afghan civilians were left behind.

Earlier in 2016, the controversial preacher had praised the Taliban for destroying the iconic Buddha statues in Afghanistan and had called the Buddhists ‘drug-addicts’.

“For millions of human beings in the world, drug is god for them”. He had also called Afghanistan, and its Buddhist statues the “property” of the Taliban. “Who are we to object?” he had said.

Zakir Naik is on a month-long visit to Pakistan during which he met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar. Naik is scheduled to deliver a series of public speeches in major Pakistani cities, including Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore, as reported by Pakistani newspaper The Tribune.

The Islamic preacher is wanted by the Indian authorities in several cases linked with alleged money laundering and inciting extremism through hate speeches. Since 2016, Naik has been residing in Malaysia following the initiation of legal proceedings against him. This action stemmed from the July 2016 Dhaka terror attack, where one of the perpetrators confessed to being influenced by Naik’s sermons on his YouTube channel.