Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) President and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Saturday that the Taliban by capturing 19, out of 34 provinces, and that too within a few days had determined the future of Afghanistan.

In a special interview with 24NewsHD TV channel over telephone from Dera Ismael Khan, Maulana Fazl said the truth of the matter was that the writ of the Afghan government led by President Ashraf Ghani was nowhere to be seen. “A large political vacuum has been created in Afghanistan, and only the Taliban have the capability to fill it,” he commented.

Fazl said while political reconciliation and the establishment of a constitutional government in the war-torn country was important, but the way things were shaping up in that country, a constitutional government was presently nowhere in the picture. “Pragmatism demands that the precedent set by Herat’s military commander Ismael Khan is followed and all factions of Mujahideen get together to pull Afghanistan out of the current crisis,” he asserted.

He urged the world to help the Afghan people get rid of the war brewing on different fronts in their country rather than lecturing them on democracy. “The situation demands that all world countries recognize the Islamic Emirate expected to be established in Afghanistan soon and further strengthen their relations with the landlocked country,” the JUI-F chief emphasised.