You Jaish, Lashkar, Ahrar, the Taliban and al Qaeda, whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever name you are fighting with and whosoever are helping you; dying yourself in hundreds and killing others in thousands; if you believe you are fighting in the name of God, wait a minute and listen to me.

You have absolutely no need to obtain a Fatwa from a cleric or Mufti to justify your jihad. You just need to run a bird’s eye view on the Islamic Jihadist history of the past forty years. Whatever history book you may read, you will realise the fact that the master plan of your jihad was prepared in the 1970s and the jihad was formally announced in America to defeat the Soviet Union. Now, the United States was not a Caliphate of Omar, whose objective was to expand the Islamic Emirate in four directions. Rather, the United States was determined to stop and defeat the Russian communism in order to emerge as the global leader of capitalism.

This jihad was started with the power of American dollars, Saudi Riyals and the religious beliefs of the dupe Afghans. The deceased Ziaul Haq, with the consent of the Americans, transformed a whole segment of the Pakistani population into an extremist, Jihadist and Fundamentalist cult.

The then-taught curriculum at the Afghan refugee camps was developed by the CIA at Nebraska University in the US, which taught Mathematics by questions like "two Kalashnikoves (guns) plus two Kalashnikoves equal to four Kalashnikoves" and "If there are 20 Russian soldiers and 15 are killed by a Muslim Mujahid (Holly Warrior), how many will be left?"

The jihadist romance was instilled in the minds of the Pakistani youth by newspaper editorials, writings of prominent journalists, fiery speeches of the local clerics and radio songs and plays. The walls of Pakhtunkhwa were covered with jihadi slogans and mosque pulpits and sanctuaries echoed with the chants of "Al-Jihad Al-Jihad".

This was the era in 1983-84 when I could not save myself from the jihadi influence in a far-flung village -- Bar Kana -- of District Shangla in Pakistan. My respected teacher (may God bless him wherever he may be) belonged to the Panjpir school of thought. While teaching me the translation of the Qur’an, he always wanted to stick three points in my mind by repetition. First, the belief in the oneness of Allah and keeping away from innovation in religion (in other words Ijtihad). Second, to prove and declare Maulana Maudodi as a non-believer through the verses of the Quran wherever possible. Third, to instill the spirit of jihad in me in its entirety.

I was so influenced by my teacher that I was about to write the surname Panjpiri with my name Ziauddin and I prayed after every Namaz that God give me the strength and courage to become a martyr while fighting the non-believers.

On the other hand, my father, who was a teacher as well as a prayer leader at the local mosque, used to deliver regular Friday sermons. He used to extensively curse the non-believers, in the second half of his sermon. He used to especially curse the Russians, the Chinese and the Atheists. The names of the United States and its cohort allies were not included in this list of the cursed ones because we were fighting their jihad with our blood under their close supervision, after all.

Be it the religious scholarly conferences of the late General Ziaul Haq or the speeches of the religious clerics at mosques or even the state and private media, all were dedicated to the promotion and propagation of the Holy jihad.

It was in the eighties that Jimmy Carter was the flag-bearer of the defence of the Independent Islamic State of Afghanistan. It was the era when Ronald Reagan used to invite the Afghan Mujahideen commanders to the White House and give them special respect and treatment. It was the same era when Margaret Thatcher would arrive at Landi Kotal to encourage the Mujahideen with her flaming speeches and promising the fighters in full swing rhetoric that "the hearts of the free world are with you" and all of a sudden the skies would echo with chants of "Allahu Akbar".

In short, the Frontline Commanders of this jihad were Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and their local commander was the righteous believer and Amir-ul-Momineen, General Ziaul Haq. The remainders are the Afghan Mujahideen commanders, who now have no one to turn to as their local middlemen cannot escort them anymore. They are gradually becoming extinct in the deepest valleys of sorrows.

So, O my poor Muslim warriors the United States won its jihad and pulled out of Afghanistan, while you chanted Allahu Akbar with the delusion that you won the war with the strength of your belief. In fact, it was the United States and her allies that defeated the Soviet Union with the help your cheap blood. When the United States returned after 9/11 and swallowed Osama bin Laden alive, you were the same Mujahideen, but you could neither save the Taliban Emirate nor Osama bin Laden.

I am not being sarcastic but I just want to tell you that your jihad is now a futile struggle. Till date, you have killed millions of innocent Afghans and thousands of innocent people in the Pashtun belt of Pakistan. How many fathers have taken their sons’ funerals as a result of your jihad? How many mothers have lost their kids and how many young women have lost their bridegrooms?

You are also whipping out the Hazara Baloch minority off the face of the earth. The ruthless killings of innocent children at Army Public School and Bacha Khan University are shining examples of your "great Islamic battles".

O my anonymous fighters! The logic of swaying in the US jihad against the Soviet Union may be comprehended as we can be easily tricked, but killing your own people in the fight against the US is beyond comprehension for people like me. If you are intentionally using the slogan of jihad while knowing that the agenda is something else, then keep fighting, keep dying and killing. But if you still have the slightest of humanity and a bit of belief left in your hearts, then please put the heavy rocket launcher off your shoulders and carefully look at it for a minute; this is probably the same rocket launcher the CIA had handed in to your fathers for its own jihad against the Russians. You have probably got it in inheritance, but that jihad is long gone and its objectives achieved. The benefits have been reaped by the United States, her allies, regional partners and local middlemen.

You have lost your way back home and made thousands like us homeless. We are in exile for the past three years. Our relatives are counting the months and years of our separation and maybe your mothers and relatives are also looking forward to your return.

Come back home as life. It is better to return to your paradise rather than wandering around town-by-town as angels of death.

Translated by Dr. Shakir Ullah