A senior Afghan Taliban official has warned of an attack against the Netherlands if its new government implements the agenda of anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, the Volkskrant daily reported Monday.
“If the Netherlands maintains or intensifies its anti-Islam policy, it is certain that the Netherlands will be the target of an attack by a jihadist group,” Zabiullah Mujahed, a long-time Taliban spokesman, is quoted as having told the newspaper.
Wilders, who campaigns to “stop the Islamisation of the Netherlands”, went on trial on October 4 for calling Islam “fascist” and likening the Koran to Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”.
His Party for Freedom has signed a pact to provide a new minority, rightist coalition government of Christian Democrats and liberals with the votes they need in parliament in return for a voice in policy formation.
The agreement commits the new government, inaugurated last Thursday, to a hardened immigration policy that will include the introduction of a burqa ban and measures to sharply reduce immigrant numbers.
“If he (Wilders) succeeds in manipulating the Dutch parliament to pass more anti-Islamic legislation ... there is no doubt that Muslims from other countries will take action to help their Muslim brothers and sisters,” Mujahed said.
He added that the Taliban was “very careful in its relations with the Netherlands” because “it was the first country that decided to stop the occupation of our country”.
A dispute over continuing military aid to Afghanistan led to the collapse of the previous Dutch coalition government in February, and the subsequent withdrawal of Dutch forces after four years in that country.