WTF? The New York Times Publishes Taliban Propaganda Written By An FBI ‘Most Wanted’ Terrorist
The Times is really leaning into that “enemy of the people” label.
It’s not really a good look.
As a matter of fact, it’s just as bad as the paid-for propaganda pieces by China and Russia in major outlets.
The New York Times is being criticized by many, including its own Afghanistan correspondent, after publishing an opinion piece Thursday by the deputy leader of the Taliban, who is wanted by the U.S. government.
The opinion piece, headlined “What We, the Taliban, Want,” was written by Sirajuddin Haqqani as the Trump administration is hoping to reach a peace deal with the Taliban that would end America’s longest war and begin the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Source: Fox News
Mohammad Tawhidi, an Imam who wants to reform Islam, raised the alarm pretty quickly:
https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1230468498280681473?s=20
Here is what The Times’ senior correspondent in Afghanistan had to say:
The piece by Siraj Haqqani in @nytopinion – which's independent of our news operations & judgment – omits the most fundamental fact: that Siraj is no Taliban peace-maker as he paints himself, that he's behind some of most ruthless attacks of this war with many civilian lives lost
— Mujib Mashal (@MujMash) February 20, 2020
And to know what our @nytimes news reporting has on Siraj Haqqqani, and what the Haqqani Network is accused of over the years, just read our years and years of reporting. Some samples:https://t.co/CW0k9I7Il1https://t.co/DcTDVtro8zhttps://t.co/p1MURtNXNF https://t.co/jktbWgmHCG
— Mujib Mashal (@MujMash) February 20, 2020
I know people have strong views on this. Sorry, I can't answer. But, as the bottom of the piece says, our Opinion editors appreciate hearing from, and are "committed to publishing a diversity of letters". So feel free to write to them: letters@nytimes.com. https://t.co/jktbWgmHCG
— Mujib Mashal (@MujMash) February 20, 2020
That the New York Times would give any column space at all to oxygen burglar Haqqani to legitimize his views is bad enough, but they just let him lie without the fact-checking that they seem to reserve for President Trump and anyone to the right of Karl Marx.
Haqqani had the audacity to write, “I am confident that, liberated from foreign domination and interference, we together will find a way to build an Islamic system in which all Afghans have equal rights, where the rights of women that are granted by Islam — from the right to education to the right to work — are protected, and where merit is the basis for equal opportunity.”
Tom Rogan at the Washington Examiner handles this well:
Taliban-Haqqani ideology exists at the warped intersection of extremist Sunni-Deobandi Islam, Pashtun tribal politics, and corruption. It embraces theological foundations of deception and has no regard for “merit.” Unless, that is, the merit is measured by that which fuels Taliban patronage networks and fosters vicious authoritarianism.
Similarly, Haqqani might be serious in saying he wants women to have education and employment rights. But only so far as the education is in women’s responsibility to kneel to authoritarianism and their employment in absolute subservience to men.
Equally absurd is his response to concerns over whether Afghanistan will remain a democracy after a peace deal is signed and American troops withdraw: “My response to such concerns is that it will depend on a consensus among Afghans.”
Haqqani is both an ideological fanatic and a crime lord of drug cartel form. Under his leadership, the network has embraced criminal enterprises such as kidnap-for-ransom while adopting a wide range of money laundering operations. The incompatibility of these operations with basic tenets of Islam, including the Islam that he claims to so nobly serve, says much about the pertinence of his “consensus” prose.
Source: Washington Examiner
As Rogan notes, it’s the concluding sentiment that deserves attention, “shared home where everybody would have the right to live with dignity, in peace.”
I’m sure that the 1700-year-old Buddhist statues that were ripped down by the Taliban back in 2001 were a sign of their commitment to unity, dignity, and peace.
Award-winning Indian journalist Maya Mirchandani helps out The Times with screenshots of the FBI Most Wanted listing for Haqqani.
For the @nytimes benefit- here are screnshots from https://t.co/aWnR52rwnO still online showing Sirajuddin Haqqani as one of America’s most wanted. To interview him and challenge him is one thing, to give him a free pass in an unchallenged oped, quite another #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/vBB1O9z7Go
— Maya Mirchandani 🇮🇳 (@maya206) February 20, 2020
This whole thing exposes that there are no journalistic standards anymore.
The Media(D) is the problem.
Also I called ithttps://t.co/TlQ5thSPAO
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) February 20, 2020
At least now they’re letting us know who they really are.
The New York Times:
"YouTube is platforming right-wing radicals"
Also The New York Times:
"Here is an op-ed from a literal Taliban leader" pic.twitter.com/UDjtBAf8jF
— Lauren Chen (@TheLaurenChen) February 21, 2020
God help us all.
