Hamas congratulates Afghans on defeating US, hails Taliban’s anti-occupation fight

Head of Hamas’ political bureau Ismail Haniyeh made the remarks on Monday in a telephone conversation with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s political chief.

“We congratulate the Muslim Afghan people for the defeat of the American occupation on all Afghan lands, and we congratulate the Taliban movement and its brave leadership on this victory, which culminated its long struggle over the past 20 years,” Haniyeh said.

“While Hamas wishes the Afghan Muslim people and its leadership success in achieving unity, stability and prosperity …, it stresses that the demise of the American occupation and its allies proves that the resistance of the people, foremost of which is our struggling Palestinian people, will achieve victory,” he added.

The Taliban official, for his part, thanked Haniyeh for the call and wished victory for the oppressed Palestinian nation in their courageous resistance against the occupiers.

He also called on regional countries and nations to help the Palestinians expel the occupiers and liberate al-Qudsas well as the entire Palestinian territory.

Additionally on Monday, Islamic Jihad, another Gaza-based Palestinian resistance group, congratulated the Taliban on their recapture of Afghanistan and “the liberation of [Afghani] land from the Western and American occupation.”

In a post on Twitter on Sunday night, senior Hamas official, Mousa Abu Marzook, drew a parallel between the Taliban’s battle against the US occupation and Hamas’s fight against the Israeli regime.

“The Taliban are victorious today after being accused of backwardness & terrorism. It became more pragmatic. They have stood up to the US & its agents refusing compromise, they have not been fooled by slogans like democracy & elections. This is a lesson for all oppressed peoples,” he said.

The US military led the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 in what it proclaimed was a war on terror meant to eradicate the Taliban.

However, it was confronted with a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Taliban, whose members managed to take control of Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul on Sunday after swift gains across the country.