Live
Audio Only
The Taliban sent a letter on Tuesday warning the Islamic State group against waging a parallel insurgency wing in Afghanistan.
In the letter, the Taliban deputy leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor said that the self-described Islamic Emirate does not consider the multiplicity of “jihadi (holy war) ranks” beneficial to jihad or Muslims.
The letter was released by local media after it was published on the Taliban website in Pashto language it has brought to public discussion a very important issue, which is the difference between the two organizations.
The U.S. government accused the Taliban of being host of its archenemy Osama Bin Laden, the late al-Qaida leader, the fundamentalist regime was toppled by Washington in 2001 during the Western invasion in the Asian country.
The Islamic State group and al-Qaida are not very different from each other, and actually the former is an offshoot of the latter. Despite their battle for Syria, both extremist groups are tied to the most conservative ideas of the Sunni Islam and seek an expansion within the Muslim world.
However, the Taliban is very different from the Islamic State group because it has tribal and parochial foundations, and is not formed of people who have been educated in other countries or urban areas, while among its ranks there are religious men and mullahs – a Muslim learned in Islamic theology and sacred law.
On the other hand, the Islamic State group, which defines itself as a caliphate, has several young jihadists among its ranks, many of whom come from Western countries. The extremist militia group has shown its power in the Arabian Peninsula, mainly in Iraq and Syria, where they have gained important territories despite the ongoing U.S.-led NATO forces military campaing against them.
In the letter sent to the Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (who has now declared himself Caliph Ibrahim), the Taliban insisted that the holy war against the U.S. and their allies must be conducted under one flag and one leadership.
In recent months, the Taliban has suffered from important defections and in most of the cases those who leave the Islamic fundamentalist political movement join the ranks of the Islamic State group.
A couple of weeks ago, local media reported that Baghdadi made a public appearance calling for global jihad militants to obey him. “I am the leader who presides over you,” he said.
So it seems that this discrepancy between both sides will bring more tension to the war-torn region.
Newsletter
