Experts have explained the political differences among Islamists in Afghanistan
The terrorist attack on Kabul airport on August 26 was organized by Islamic State (IS) and condemned by the Taliban movement that took power in Afghanistan. Representatives of two groups whose common goal is to build an Islamic state are killing each other in the country. What are the fundamental differences between the ISIS and the Taliban.
They interfere in their business
Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack at Kabul airport that killed at least 170 people. Its branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan is called “Khorasan Province” (the second word is the historical name of a region of Greater Iran) and has been hostile to the Taliban movement since 2015. Confirmation that this has not changed even after 6 years, can be found even before the riots in Kabul.
After the Taliban came to power, former Afghan IS cell leader Abu Omar Khorasani, who has been in prison since May 2020, was hoping for the best. “If they are good Muslims, they will let me go,” Khorasani told The Wall Street Journal.
Two days later, on August 19, the new masters of Afghanistan executed him. At the same time, the Taliban released hundreds of prisoners from the same prison, most notably al-Qaeda.
According to experts, the main reason for the conflict between the Taliban and the IS is political. It is about the opposite understanding of how, where and when to build an Islamic state, which inevitably leads to insurmountable contradictions.
“The Taliban are pragmatists, they want to build an Islamic Afghan state (emirate). And the ISIS are utopians and supporters of the world Islamic state (caliphate) and simply prevent the Taliban from doing their business.
“In addition, there are many Arabs and members of other nations who” came “to Afghanistan. That is why the very fact of the existence of IS on the territory of Afghanistan has always spoiled the Taliban’s relations with the rest of the world, “said Alexei Malashenko, chief research fellow at NIISIMO (National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations) at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Create a caliphate
Valeri Matrosov, a professor of oriental sciences at the National Research University of Higher Education (National Research University), explains that the IDF contradicts the notions of building a caliphate that have developed over the last century.
“After the founder of the modern Turkish state, Ataturk, liquidated the institution of the caliph in 1924, Muslim theologians from all over the world gathered to discuss the possibility of its revival. And then they decided that this would not happen in these conditions, taking into account the context of the absence of a direct reference to the caliph in the Qur’an, “says the Orientalist.
According to him, in the future, representatives of various Islamist movements have discussed the need to restore the caliphate.
But everyone agreed that it would be possible to return to this issue only when Muslims around the world realized what a caliphate was and were prepared for life in it (that is, they must first learn to abandon haram (forbidden) innovations and follow sharia law. ).
The IDF, on the other hand, contradicts the established order, followed by the Taliban, the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda. First, a caliphate was created, and only then did the Muslim community begin to be “cleansed.”
“From the point of view of the ‘early’ Islamists, including the Taliban, this time is ineffective and meaningless. In addition, the lack of consensus in the world community on the issue of the caliph deprives the IS of legitimacy.
So, for the Taliban, the IDF is a new phenomenon, a group of comrades claiming status that they have not yet achieved objectively. “The Taliban never thought they were the ideal criterion for the whole world,” Matrosov said.
The IDF refuses to recognize the Taliban and its targets because they have not sworn allegiance to them.
“Namely, the oath is the key political link for state-building within the framework of early Islamic concepts. The tribes swear allegiance to the Prophet Muhammad, and later to his successors, the caliphs, and in the same way the clans, groups, organizations swear allegiance to the Islamic State. “Despite the symbolic nature of this step, it helps maintain the core of the Salafists,” Matrosov said.
At the same time, Matrosov does not rule out the theoretical possibility of a temporary unification of the ISIS and the Taliban against external enemies, if necessary, but not the joint building of the state.
The direct confrontation between the Taliban and the ISIS began in 2015, when the ISIS first left the Arab world. In its propaganda, the new caliphate insisted that the Taliban only propagate the interests of Pakistan’s interagency intelligence. Some of the most powerful clashes between them took place in 2017 in the Afghan province of Jawzjan, after a number of Taliban swore allegiance to ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
In 2020, members of the IDF from Vilayet Khorasan accused the Taliban of exchanging jihad for a peace agreement with the Americans in Qatar.
From two evils
The analysis of the smaller, including daily, discrepancies between the representatives of the two Islamist groups does not make much sense in understanding the essence of their conflict, Malashenko is sure.
Furthermore, it is not yet entirely clear how radical order will be established in Afghanistan compared to the previous Taliban rule. In particular, Malashenko points out that according to the Qur’an, a woman is considered the most free and her position in reality depends on the interpretations of the holy book.
However, experts agree that the Taliban, in one way or another, will also take into account local traditions and the Pashtun tribal code of ethics.
“Afghanistan is different and somewhere the classical sharia really works, whose laws regulate many spheres of life. But I think that Sharia, say, in Kabul will be different from what will be in force elsewhere, for example in the eastern part of the country, “Malashenko said.
Matrosov says “the Taliban are not enemies of their people, even if some of their relatives do not share their views.”
“The ID is more straightforward in this respect, as it has no ethnic or tribal ties and its ideology was created in a cosmopolitan regime. That is why the Sharia has acquired firmer forms and interpretations there, and the punishments there are more decisive measures “, the expert concludes.
There is already reason to believe that the Western world and Russia see the Taliban as a lesser evil. Thus, the US authorities rejected the possible involvement of the Taliban in the bombings near Kabul airport. Washington is confident that its goals coincide with the Taliban by the end of the US evacuation by August 31.
The statements came amid attempts by Afghan Vice President Amrulla Saleh to prove otherwise. He is convinced, however, that the Khorasan province is linked to the Taliban through an intermediary, and that it is the Halani Network terrorist organization, which has waged guerrilla warfare with the Taliban.
Russia’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, who previously called the Taliban “adequate men,” is also convinced that “there is an irreconcilable war going on between them and the ISIS.” According to the diplomat from Moscow, the Taliban will continue to capture ISIS fighters and act firmly with them, as “they do not need a repeat of terrorist attacks.”
(Translation for “Trud” – Pavel Pavlov)
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