Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Afghanistan: Islamic jihadis murder three Spanish tourists

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Yes, the Taliban sell tickets to see the site of the Bamiyan Buddhas they destroyed. Many Muslims believe that the ruins and destruction of non-Muslim structures testifies to the truth of Islam, as the Qur’an suggests that the destroyed remnants of ancient non-Muslim civilizations are a sign of Allah’s punishment of those who rejected his truth: “Many were the Ways of Life that have passed away before you: travel through the earth, and see what was the end of those who rejected Truth.” (3:137)

“Gunmen kill three Spanish tourists in Afghanistan’s Bamyan province,” by Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Charlotte Greenfield and Ana Cantero, Reuters, May 18, 2024:

KABUL/MADRID/DELHI, May 17 (Reuters) – Three Spanish tourists were killed and at least one Spaniard was injured in an attack by gunmen in Afghanistan’s central Bamyan province, Spain’s foreign ministry said on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, Taliban interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qaniee had said that three foreign tourists and one Afghan citizen had been killed in the attack.

Four foreign nationals and three Afghans were also injured in the attack when gunmen opened fire, he added. Four people have been arrested, he said.

The Spanish foreign ministry said that the consular emergency unit had been fully mobilised and the victims and their families were being assisted.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on social messaging platform X that he was “shocked by the news of the murder of Spanish tourists in Afghanistan”. There was no immediate indication of why the attack happened.

Mountainous Bamyan is home to a UNESCO world heritage site and the remains of two giant Buddha statues which were blown up by the Taliban during their previous rule in 2001.

Since taking over Afghanistan in 2021 the Taliban have vowed to restore security and encourage a small but growing number of tourists trickling into the country and sell tickets to access the Buddha statues….

Comments

  1. Any willfully blind fool who wants to participate in tourism to Jihadi lands deserves what ever fate comes their way.

    • Lots and lots of beautiful spots across the globe. There is NOTHING so special in any Muslim land that justifies putting your life in the balance.

    • Yup! And even if they were into tourism in muslim countries, weren’t there other saner countries to go? Egypt? Saudi Arabia (which previously only allowed business or haj visas, but now encourages tourism to other places in that country)? Morocco – just across the Strait of Gibralter?

      Heck if they had chosen to visit Uzbekistan – one country north, they’d have encountered much of the same culture that ruled Afghanistan for centuries, but they’d have been much safer there, since Uzbekistan has throughout its independent history cracked down on jihadists, and kept that country safe for non muslims, especially visitors to that country

  2. Afghanistan had one International recognized site. The two giant Buddhas. The only tourist thing in their country. And they destroyed it with explosives and gun and cannon fire. it took them days of continuous attack to destroy the statutes. And they finally accomplished their desired aim. Islam now reigned supreme over that barren desolate land!! And now no one comes to Afghanistan because there is nothing there worth coming for. The Taliban won. Allah akbar. I hope that no American Government gives them one red cent and lets them rot.

    • The Afghan people are not killing the tourists. It is the terrorists Taliban. The Afghan people asked the: US for help and we gave it to them. They fought hard against the Taliban. Toward the last years we were in advisor roles.
      SAVING AZIZ is a book that explains how Biden destroyed the good they accomplished.

      • Yes, but it is still the Afghan people, almost without exception, who continue to think that Islam is some kind of positive.

        It is not. Moreover, the Taliban are actually very good Muslims, acting in imitation of the Model Man, i.e., Mohammed.

        Those complicit with evil, though not actively engaged, or even denying their belief system is evil even though it is, are still part of the “problem.” Surely.

        • No, Trump had an agreement w/ the Taliban that if they reneged on the agreement, they’d be blown up. At his rallies, he often regales his crowds w/ the story of “Aabdoool”, the Taliban rep at the Doha talks and his point of contact. He narrates how he sent Aabdoool a picture of his house, and the latter asking him, “Mr President, why did you send me a picture of my house?” Trump responded that that’s for you to figure out

          The original Trump withdrawal plan was to transfer power to the Afghan army, withdraw all US personnel from that country, starting w/, not ending w/ civilians, keep a few special forces in, but also have the Taliban on notice that if they did anything, the US won’t go back in for another round of nation-building, but it would nonetheless bomb them to smithereens. While there is no telling for sure whether something will work, especially when it comes to military events, this sort of a plan, given the warnings to the Taliban as well as their previous experience w/ Trump – when he unloaded a JDAM on some cave network in the Hindu Kush mountains, makes it likely that the Taliban would have taken him at his word

          In fact, in 2001, Operation enduring freedom was a success, and by New Year’s Eve of 2002, there was no Taliban control over Afghanistan. That was when the US should have completely pulled out, instead of having the Bonn conference that followed followed by some 20 years of a futile nation building project in Afghanistan

      • Actually, once the US troops starting destroying their cannabis and opium crops they turned against them.

    • Given thar verse (3:137), it is important that Israel finally flood and destroy those vile, idiotic terror tunnels in Gaza after all the hostages have been accounted for.

    • If one is into sampling muslim culture – which one presumes from the fact that one is picking Afghanistan to visit in the first place, there are a few tombs and minarets of some famous conquerors who started from Afghanistan – Mahmoud of Ghazni, Babur’s tomb in Kabul, as well as some muslim architectural achievements (of course, by ismamic standards, not ours) in the city of Herat. Like I pointed out above, they could have seen very similar things by visiting Uzbekistan – namely the historic cities of Samarqand and Buqhara

      If these tourists were into Buddhist architecture and wonders, there are other countries that they could have visited – India, Nepal, Thailand, maybe Cambodia, Mongolia, Vietnam. They would have seen Buddhism being actually celebrated, at least in the last 4 countries, as opposed to being treated like an ancient relic in a dangerous, hostile country

  3. I don’t believe that anyone doing something foolish, but not evil, ‘deserves’ to be murdered.
    It seems perhaps that this was the work of al queda or another rival terror group. The taliban want to use the ruins of their work of destruction to make some money. Gangs of mozlums who belong to al queda want the government of the taliban to fail completely. Murdering tourists, and even afghans who reside there, is a way to discourage tourism, and make things more difficult on the government of the taliban.

    I can’t imagine wanting to go to that dangerous country, and especially to help a tyrannical government use my money to further islam, Neither do I have an interest in seeing what the taliban destroyed in order to ‘prove’ islam is true.

    Such a ridiculous thing to believe…seeing something that was ruined/destroyed is proof a god exists, when the person who believes it is the one destroying things.
    Like the Psalmist wrote about the man who cuts down a tree, carves a part to make an idol which he then begins to worship, and burns the rest of the tree to cook his food.

    • Somehistory: well-said. A few years back, there were a couple of beautiful young Scandinavian girls who foolishly went camping by themselves in a remote forest in Morocco, and they got murdered by a group of I.S. sympathizers.

      They (those girls) were definitely naive and foolish, but they didn’t deserve to die for it, especially not in that way.

      • Thank you, Mike. I recall that account. and you are so right on all points.
        If only others could learn from these accounts.

    • It is like the warning tape near the lip of an electric meat grinder ,do not put land or fingers near the opening. How many people would stick a finer in and be surprised at the result? That what is it like to take a vacation in Afghanistan why would go there for anything ?

    • James

      I wonder – don’t other countries – be it Spain, EU,…. have similar advisories for their people when it comes to going abroad?

      • Spain is run, and largely populated by leftists.

        To a leftist, travel advisories are racist.

        They are also convinced that their openess and tolerance will make the muslims like them.

    • And that was one of the reasons for the destruction; they didn’t want people to know about the history of the country before they took over.

      • The Bayiman Buddha statues were special in that they also had Hellenic (ancient Greek) influence in their style, not just Hindu and East Asian influences.

        The Taliban could have made much more money if they had nust kept the statues intact, and tried to understand that Buddhists revere Gautama (much as Muslims revere Muhammad, or the Qu’ran, etc.) but they don’t worship him.

        One can even admire a painting, or ancient statue of Heracles, or Zeus, or Thor, or Wotan, without worshipping them.

        • Islam can not have anything that would distrait from Islam because it is so weak and stupid Like an ugly girl who hates pretty and attract girls because they are beautiful .You can not even have music ,true art ,or any creative books around because Islam is just an ugly harpy that will cancel or destroy outside influences.

  7. “shocked by the news of the murder of Spanish tourists in Afghanistan”

    In a sane world, the headline would be :
    “shocked by the news of tourists in Afghanistan”

  9. Confucius says: In order to avoid problems do not be in situations where problems arise.
    Afghanistan was a Buddhist Nation for Centuries.
    I had an old friend that often spoke of the beauty of the Banyan Buddha Statues he climbed up into in the late 1960s.
    He died last year in Thailand.
    I know many guys who went to India Nepal Afghanistan in the late 1960s and loved those countries, I didn’t get to India, Nepal and Sri Lanka until 1979 but they were great countries back then… Now look at them.

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