Mullah Omar’s Legacy Sold In Moscow By His Own Son – OpEd

Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob’s visit to Moscow for a meeting to strengthen military-technical ties with Russia was not just a signing of a diplomatic document but it was bringing the Taliban’s mythology of its founding into the market of survival of the regime. Ironic it is and couldn’t be more so if it was bigger. Mullah Omar, the Taliban’ founder and the father of Yaqoob was a part of the generation whose legitimacy was shrouded in the discourse of jihad against Soviet occupation. Now the Taliban’s defence minister, Yaqoob is the son of the same. Today that son is with the security establishment of Moscow. The political is becoming an ideological bankrupt.

Taliban had been selling itself as the purest protector of the Afghan sovereignty against occupation, foreign domination and imperial interference for decades. It developed a sacred vocabulary of ‘resistance’, ‘martyrdom’ and independence as part of its propaganda machine. Now, however, the same movement is wooing the state that had once sent tanks across Afghanistan’s borders, and that had been the Soviet capital. In late December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, which lasted until February 1989, and resulted in a huge refugee exodus as well as a battle against the mujahideen. That is NOT a footnote in history! It is the wound which bleeding Afghanistan is still suffering from today.

The Taliban have no other option but to either do the right thing or go the wrong way. It can not raise up the anti-Soviet war, and then stretch out a hand in Moscow or pull a lever when it pleases. It cannot claim to have adopted ‘Jihad’ as its founding certificate and then regard the former occupier as a security partner while not clarifying whether this was a principle or just a marketing ploy. The really difficult one for the Taliban propagandists: Was there a belief in resistance or was it a recruiting ploy? Who were the heroes of Afghan independence and what were their motivations? What was the goal of Afghan independence and was it a sacred goal, or a stepping stone to power?

It isn’t a “them versus us” situation.It’s not a “them versus us” thing. The casualties of the Soviet war in Afghanistan came at a high cost for millions of Afghans, including their lives, their displacement, loss of their villages, and loss of their families and legacy of inherited trauma. Approximate estimates of Afghan deaths prior to 1992 are 1.5 million and Afghan refugees overseas reached a peak of around six million in the late 1980s. Forced Migration Review, on the other hand, estimates the total number of Afghan refugees at almost five million up to 1986, primarily in Pakistan and Iran. These are not just statistics; these are mothers who buried their sons, children who grew up in camps, farmers who never came back to their land and a country which had its social fabric ripped up. But Yaqoob’s Russia outreach bullshits on that theme, and uses the pantheon of independence as a bargaining tool to preserve the regime.

The military alliance itself is indicative of the contradiction. On May 27, 2026, Russia and Afghanistan inked a military-technical cooperation deal at the International Security Forum (ISF) organized by the Russian Security Council, TASS reported. According to Reuters earlier this month in May, Russia is working on a “full-fledged partnership” with the Taliban and urging regional nations to boost cooperation with Kabul. There will be no tea meeting, it’s not symbolic. It is a pivot strategy: Moscow has an interest in levers in Central Asia and Afghanistan and the Taliban are interested in getting legitimate, weapons, tech-support and an image of statehood.

However, the most bizarre is that the Russians are not even convinced of the Afghanistan that they are welcoming. Sergey Shoigu is quoted by TASS as saying the militants include over 20 groups, between 18,000 and 23,000 people are working there and Afghanistan continues to be a source of threats in terms of terrorism and drugs. The Taliban want to partner with Moscow but Afghanistan under Taliban rule is a security threat, warns Moscow. The Taliban request collaboration; Russia threatens of terrorists. I’m not sure about the strategic absurdity, but it does seem to be self-explanatory.

This is the way evil works without any principles. The Taliban were once a liberation movement, but are now acting like a business transaction ruling group to find any patron to shore up its control. Yesterday, it was the occupation of Moscow that was in the Talibanic mythology. In the modern day, it is the opportunity that lies in Moscow. Soviet bombs yesterday were a reminder of foreign evil. The concept of “pragmatic engagement” is considered to be the main element of Russian defence channels today. This sort of flexibility doesn’t constitute diplomacy, it’s ideological failure.

This is the time when Afghans need to be aware. But it’s not about states reaching out to former enemies, there are plenty of examples of reconciliation in history. The problem is the Taliban’s legitimacy was based on the idea of Absolutism, Morality and Sacred resistance, but then they left those ideas behind without any accountability. A legitimate Afghan government would have been able to engage with Russia, and could have respected the suffering of the Soviet war, protected the national interest via institutions and been held accountable by the Afghan people. The Taliban does none of that! It claims to be nationalistic, it makes outlawry of any opposition and it silences women, it suppresses pluralism and it sells national memory instead of providing external support.

In the mythology of the Taliban, Omar was always a figure who was divisive, violent and destructive, but in the minds of his followers he was also a symbol of resistance, a man who was transformed into a banner of resistance, a man who fought against the occupation, a man who was the creator of Islam. Now it’s his own son who has taken up the torch to bring it to Moscow, and who has put it at the negotiating table. The notion of jihad for liberation has been replaced by the concept of a rule based on non-consistent ideology and power politics with no regard for sacrifice. The sale was done in the guise of co-operation. However, the price is known by Afghans. It was money that was the medium, and Moscow was the buyer.