Washington sees the recent withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, chaotic as it might have been, as a pragmatic political decision. But the Taliban, and Muslims across the region, are viewing this development through far more religious lenses.

“August 15, 2021, the day in which Taliban resumed their rule over Afghanistan after 20 years of Western occupation, will forever be viewed and remembered in the Islamic world as the victory of Islam over Christianity, the victory of faith over heresy, and the victory of tradition over permissiveness,” wrote Israeli expert Dr. Mordechai Kedar on his Facebook page.

Dr. Kedar is one of Israel’s top experts on Islam and the Arab world. Fluent in Arabic, he appears regularly on news programs across the Arab world. Both in Israel and abroad he is recognized as a leading scholar on Middle East affairs.

And for years Dr. Kedar has been stressing that the West must take seriously the religious nature of its conflict with various Middle East states and organizations.

What happened in Afghanistan, he warned, is now “pumping new blood into jihad arteries and the results will soon be seen around the world, including in Israel.”