Khabib apologizes after accusations of indifference to Muslims of Afghanistan

Internet users accused Dagestani MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov of disrespecting Afghan Muslims after he had refused to comment on events in Afghanistan.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that the situation in Afghanistan has worsened in connection with the offensive of the Taliban* (militants of the Taliban* terrorist movement banned in Russia) on the country’s large cities. The arrival of the Taliban* to power in Afghanistan did not cause an unequivocal reaction among Muslims of Northern Caucasus and does not threaten the region with an increase in extremism, Caucasian researcher Akhmet Yarlykapov and expert Kirill Semyonov suggest.

At a press conference held on August 18, Khabib Nurmagomedov refused to speak on political topics, including commenting on the situation in Afghanistan. The MMA fighter said that he had nothing in common with the country, located thousands of kilometres from Russia, the newspaper “Soviet Sport” reports.

The statement voiced by Khabib Nurmagomedov caused a violent reaction of users on his Instagram page.

“You have forgotten about your Afghan brothers and sisters from Afghanistan,” noted, in particular, user adina_maroooo.

“There are millions of Afghans among your fans, and they always wished you success. We know that you are personally acquainted with some Afghans and that you have been their guests several times in the USA,” user sameer_mns pointed out.

“I think it was wrong when I said that I was not concerned about what was happening a thousand kilometres away from me ... I have a very close relationship with the Afghan people. Since 2012, I have been in San Jose, California, and there is the city of Fremont, where 150,000 Afghan families live: they are the largest community outside of Afghanistan ... I have a lot of friends, close people from Afghanistan,” the athlete said on an Instagram video.

He apologized to the Afghan people. “Of course, it hurts, we worry for these people, and I want to wish them all the best,” Khabib Nurmagomedov noted.

*The Taliban is recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia by the court.