Taliban and Islamic State Declare Jihad on Each Other // Suicide Bomber Killed En Route By Car Bomb
According to reports from Afghanistan's Khaama Press and Pakistan's Mashaal
Radio, the Taliban and Islamic State (ISIS) have declared jihad on each other,
furthering an already acrimonious relationship between the two groups. Nabi Jan Mullahkhil, police chief of Afghanistan's
southern Helmand province, an opium-producing region along the Pakistan border, revealed in an
interview that he received documents showing that both groups made the
declaration.
This news comes after a brutal terrorist attack on Saturday in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, which killed at least 35 people and wounded over 100 others. The Taliban castigated the incident, with the group's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stating, "It was an evil act. We strongly condemn it." While Afghani President Ashraf Ghani blamed ISIS for the attack and a spokesman pledging allegiance to ISIS claimed responsibility, Maulvi Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, self-declared leader of ISIS in Afghanistan, said his group was not involved. Both the U.S. and Afghani militaries expressed doubts about ISIS's guilt, suggesting it was possibly the Taliban.
It is unclear who was behind the attack, but there is evidently a rivalry between ISIS and the Taliban. Last summer when ISIS picked up significant momentum, the Taliban warned of the former's "extremism" in an attempt to unify the jihad movement. The Taliban views ISIS's declaration of an official caliphate as premature, divisive, and illegitimate.
Earlier this year, Afghan officials announced that ISIS had moved into southern Afghanistan to recruit and establish a base to further its caliphate. ISIS then said it established itself in Khorasan, a historic name for the region that includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, parts of India, and surrounding countries. Some Taliban fighters, even commanders, joined ISIS in Afghanistan and Pakistan, threatening the former's influence. There has also been fighting between both sides, and the Taliban even arrested an ISIS leader. The Taliban and its ally al-Qaeda, however, still maintain a stronger presence in the aforementioned areas than ISIS.
This conflict for political power manifested in the relations between ISIS's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the Taliban's leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Mullah Omar is Emir of Afghanistan, and followers in the Taliban and al-Qaeda have referred to him as "Leader of the Faithful," a title often used for caliphs. Baghdadi, however, called Mullah Omar a fool and an illiterate warlord who does not deserve spiritual or religious credibility. Conversely, the Taliban has been ordered to not let ISIS's flag fly in Afghanistan. Both men represent the larger conflict between their groups and the divide in the global jihad movement.
Now that ISIS and the Taliban have declared jihad on one another, there may be an escalation of violence between both sides. ISIS has a history of going into new territories and assassinating its Islamic opposition, with Syria and Libya as two examples. In both
This news comes after a brutal terrorist attack on Saturday in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, which killed at least 35 people and wounded over 100 others. The Taliban castigated the incident, with the group's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stating, "It was an evil act. We strongly condemn it." While Afghani President Ashraf Ghani blamed ISIS for the attack and a spokesman pledging allegiance to ISIS claimed responsibility, Maulvi Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, self-declared leader of ISIS in Afghanistan, said his group was not involved. Both the U.S. and Afghani militaries expressed doubts about ISIS's guilt, suggesting it was possibly the Taliban.
It is unclear who was behind the attack, but there is evidently a rivalry between ISIS and the Taliban. Last summer when ISIS picked up significant momentum, the Taliban warned of the former's "extremism" in an attempt to unify the jihad movement. The Taliban views ISIS's declaration of an official caliphate as premature, divisive, and illegitimate.
Earlier this year, Afghan officials announced that ISIS had moved into southern Afghanistan to recruit and establish a base to further its caliphate. ISIS then said it established itself in Khorasan, a historic name for the region that includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, parts of India, and surrounding countries. Some Taliban fighters, even commanders, joined ISIS in Afghanistan and Pakistan, threatening the former's influence. There has also been fighting between both sides, and the Taliban even arrested an ISIS leader. The Taliban and its ally al-Qaeda, however, still maintain a stronger presence in the aforementioned areas than ISIS.
This conflict for political power manifested in the relations between ISIS's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the Taliban's leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Mullah Omar is Emir of Afghanistan, and followers in the Taliban and al-Qaeda have referred to him as "Leader of the Faithful," a title often used for caliphs. Baghdadi, however, called Mullah Omar a fool and an illiterate warlord who does not deserve spiritual or religious credibility. Conversely, the Taliban has been ordered to not let ISIS's flag fly in Afghanistan. Both men represent the larger conflict between their groups and the divide in the global jihad movement.
Now that ISIS and the Taliban have declared jihad on one another, there may be an escalation of violence between both sides. ISIS has a history of going into new territories and assassinating its Islamic opposition, with Syria and Libya as two examples. In both
countries, ISIS
expanded and killed rival Sunni jihadists in an attempt to gain control.
Furthermore, if the competition between ISIS and al-Qaeda serves as a model,
both groups may attempt to outdo one another through terrorism. There is
evidence, for example, of the Taliban carrying out more beheadings recently,
perhaps in an attempt to match ISIS's notoriety.
While a Taliban-ISIS conflict may seem desirable as a way for both groups to destroy each other, ISIS expansion will only lead to more chaos. Furthermore, such a fight would not eliminate the basic problem that both groups exist in the first place. It is also possible that they will occasionally work together to fight the West, their common enemy, despite their differences, like al-Qaeda and ISIS did with the attack on Charlie Hebdo. Ultimately, clashes between jihadists do not substitute for the international community actively confronting these groups to root out their ideology and ability to continue fighting.
NB: Lest readers take this literally, this is pure gallows humour, posted for light relief:
BAGHDAD—Terrorist cells in Baghdad are in mourning for
suicide bomber Ahmed al-Khalaf, 19, who was killed by a car bomb Monday, 200
yards from an Iraqi police station, his intended target. Sources within the insurgency said al-Khalaf was "on
his way to becoming a glorious martyr" when he was struck down by the
car-bomb explosion. Twenty-three other civilians were also killed.
"What kind of God allows the death of people who are on
their way to kill innocent people?" insurgent leader Abdulwahid al-Tomizie
said. "On the one hand, I am elated that the car-bomb explosion was
successful, but the loss of the suicide bomber is a tragedy, as is the survival
of all the innocent people he might have killed." According to al-Tomizie, al-Khalaf could have killed as many
as 40 innocent people, had his life not been cut short.
"It is tragic that al-Khalaf died seven minutes sooner
than he intended," said Hassan Abdul Aziz, leader of a local cabal of
Sunni separatists. "To think that he was just yards from his intended
target. Our thoughts and prayers are with his terrorist cell." No insurgent groups have claimed responsibility for the car
bomb, although as many as 18 separate insurgency factions have vowed to carry
on the fight in al-Khalaf's memory. In the past week, over 170 Iraqi citizens and U.S. troops
have died in terrorist or insurgent attacks, but al-Khalaf's death marks the
first time a terrorist has been killed by another terrorist while on a
different terrorist mission.
Terrorist leaders have called the incident a "wake-up
call." "No one likes to see a senseless waste of a willingness
to take human life," said al-Qaeda operative Salih al-Shimiri, in a
videotaped message aired on Al-Jazeera Monday evening. "However, there are
worse problems than having too many suicide bombers on our streets." Insurgent leaders met Monday to draft new rules to prevent
bombing mix-ups like the one that killed al-Khalaf. One proposal would limit
suicide bombings to odd hours, car bombings to even. Another designates
"Car Bomb Only" traffic lanes to help terrorists get to their bombing
locations more quickly and efficiently.
"I had a man last week get stuck in traffic while
driving a car bomb to the Mendi Temple," al-Shimiri said. "When he
arrived, he found it already on fire. We don't fill the cars up with enough gas
to make two-way trips, so he was forced to blow up a nearby disco. This is
madness." Al-Shimiri added: "We all have the same goal here—the
killing of innocent civilians. Let's stop working at cross purposes." Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr believes all insurgents must
find direction in their extreme fundamentalist faith. "When I close my
eyes, all I can see are the faces of all the innocents al-Khalaf will never get
a chance to kill. It is a sad day, but we must not let it shake our faith in
the wrath of Allah."
