Kabul: With a move instigating Indian sentiments, The Taliban has decided to name a special military unit as Panipat – in reference to the 18th-century Afghan zealot Ahmed Shah Abdali. It was in 1761 when raids by Ahmed Shah Abdali to North India were challenged by the Marathas which culminated in the Third Battle of Panipat on January 14, 1761.
The Panipat unit will be stationed at Nangarhar which shares its border with Pakistan. Talking about the new unit, the Taliban’s (acting) Defence Minister Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob Mujahid said, “This new unit is part of the broader move being initiated by the Taliban, under which the country aims to have a 110,000-member army. This number will be raised further if needed,”
With the lionization of Ahmed Shah Abdali, the Taliban has evidently given a signal to India also dripped in Hindu-hatred. The Battle of Panipat saw over 1,25,000 people killed during a single day with the sacrifice of Maratha Commander-in-Chief Sadashiv Rao Bhau, Peshwa Nanasaheb’s son Vishwasrao, Jankoji Scindia and several other prominent leaders for the nation. One of the events which instigated the counter-attack by Marathas was Abdali’s raids at Hindu pilgrimage sites at Mathura characterised by rampant looting, killing of the innocent and assault on women.
This is however not a singular incident when the Taliban has associated itself with genocidal warmongers from the Islamic past. A painting of Ahmed Shah Abdali’s coronation still hangs at the Presidential Palace in Kabul in front of which the Taliban was seen positing itself after its successful capture of Afghanistan in 2021.
Earlier in October 2021, Taliban leader Anas Haqqani had tweeted about him visiting the tomb of Sultan Mohammed Ghaznavi, who plundered the Somnath Mandir in the 11th century. Glorifying the tyrant as ‘a renowned Muslim warrior & Mujahid of the 10th century’, the terrorist claimed that the shrines of these ‘honours inspire us with freedom, pride & courage.’