Contemporary Political Studies

Contemporary Political Studies

Afghan Taliban as narrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)

Document Type : .

Author
Associate Professor of Political science, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies
Abstract
Abstract
Using frequency method, the present paper aims at dealing with the description and analysis of the attitude of terrorist organization of ISIS towards Afghan Taliban.
The scope of research includes the editions 1 to 365 from Al-Naba weekly (ISIS formal information journal). The questions of the research are:
- How does ISIS terrorist organization view Taliban and what it rules about its faith?
- What a disconnection of thought can be seen in the view of ISIS towards the Taliban?
- What are the fundamentals of ISIS's beliefs about the Taliban's creed?
Research shows that despite the fact that the origin of the primary leaders of ISIS was from al Qaeda (Taliban allies), but both Taliban (after the death of Mullah Omar) and al-Qaeda (after the death of Osama bin Laden), referring to the books of the Najdi Wahhabis, especially the books of Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab and the Wahhabis of the generation after him, are considered apostates and the necessity of war with them is emphasized. As ISIS is actively seeking to recruit members of the Taliban, this can be converted into a great opportunity for anti- Wahhabism in Afghanistan, especially among the Pashtun population of Afghanistan.
Keywords: Isis; Afghan Taliban; Al Qaeda; Al-Naba Weekly; Takfir; Terrorism.

Introduction
Considering that Afghanistan is a neighbor of Iran, any fundamental developments in the country influences Iran’s national security. Factors such as the collapse of the government of Ashraf Ghani, the withdrawal of the American forces from Afghanistan and the re-emergence of the Taliban in the country which coincide with extensive moves by the ISIS terrorist organization in certain parts of Afghanistan, make a study of the relations between the Taliban and the ISIS of paramount importance. To that end, the paper ‘The Afghanistan’s Taliban According to the ISIS’ is dedicated to some questions on the ISIS terrorist organization’s attitude towards the Taliban, including how does the ISIS judge the belief of the Taliban members’? What intellectual disconnect is seen in the ISIS’s view of the Taliban? What are the bases of the conviction of the ISIS regarding the judgment of the Taliban’s belief?
To answer the questions stated above contributes considerably to drawing a road map and forecasting future developments between the two organizations.
Materials and Methods
The present paper describes and analyzes the attitude of the ISIS terrorist organization towards the Afghanistan’s Taliban, using a frequency method. On this basis, the scope of the study includes vol.s No. 1 to 365 of the Al-Naba weekly (official newspaper vol.d by the ISIS). The research attitude is structural. Consequently, all vol.s of the Al-Naba weekly are considered as a single connected file, as every keyword in question is searched in all vol.s of the Al-Naba weekly, so that the questions of the research are answered by exploring algorithms and general rules governing the ISIS texts about the Taliban. 
Discussion & Result
The frequency of words used by the ISIS to refer to the Taliban suggests that the ISIS has generally used two broad models with regard to the Taliban:
1- The Osama Bin Laden – Mullah Omar model.
2- The Ayman al-Zawahiri – Mullah Akhtar Mansour model.
In the first model, the ISIS declines to excommunicate the Taliban, while in the second model, excommunicates it. The reasons for excommunication of the Taliban by the ISIS can be summarized in three general categories. The first is the Taliban’s refusal to pay allegiance to the self-styled ISIS caliphate. The second is the friendly interaction, negotiations and alliance on the part of the Taliban with people, governments and organizations seen as evil [taghout] and enemy, such as opening a Taliban representation office in Doha, Qatar, negotiating with the then Afghan government or with the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. And third is the failure to implement Sharia or to try to change tribal and hereditary system, like in Waziristan region that the ISIS calls it ignorance order [jahiliyyah].
All the three categories are challenging vol.s all Islamic communities face with regard to the ISIS and can be considered a sweeping problem. 
Conclusion
The research shows that although the birthplace of early ISIS leaders was Al-Qaeda (a Taliban ally), both the Taliban (after death of Mullah Omar) and Al-Qaeda (after death of Osama Bin Laden) were regarded as apostates that must be fought, based on books by the Wahhabis in Najd, in particular books by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his succeeding generation of Wahhabis. Considering that the ISIS is actively seeking to recruit from among members of the Taliban, this can present an excellent opportunity for fighting Wahhabism in Afghanistan, in particular among the populous Pashtun ethnic group in Afghanistan. 
Keywords

Subjects


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