Tolo News reported on Saturday that Mullah Yaqub, the interim Defense Minister for the Taliban, declared that if a person leaves Afghanistan with the goal of jihad, his effort is not called jihad.
In a lecture to Taliban leaders, he remarked, “If the Amir explicitly prohibits Mujahideen from engaging in combat and they still persist, the resulting battle would not be classified as jihad.”
Yaqoob emphasized that “the Amir’s orders are binding,” and that anyone who left Afghanistan for the express aim of conducting jihad would not be considered to be truly engaging in Jihad.
He went on to say that it would not be considered jihad if the fighters ignored Amir’s ban on entering battle.
Read more about how Kabul is unwilling to act against the TTP and is instead urging Pakistan to engage in talks.
The interim government has made some progress, and the acting defense minister stressed the necessity of not doing anything to jeopardize that progress.
Pakistan has been urging the interim Afghan administration to crack down on the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), thus this statement makes sense.
The increase in terrorist assaults has been attributed by Islamabad on safe havens for terrorists in neighboring countries. It has been stated on multiple occasions that the proscribed TTP and its affiliates have been operating freely out of Afghanistan.
The interim administration in Afghanistan has refuted this and said its territory will not be utilized against any other nation.
Recently, Pakistan dispatched a special envoy to deliver a stern warning to the government of Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban were adamant that Pakistan must talk to the TTP, therefore Ambassador Asif Durrani’s visit reportedly had little effect.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari suggested earlier this month that his country might intervene inside Afghanistan to combat the terrorism coming from its neighbor.
He claimed that after Kabul fell, there was an uptick in terrorist attacks. He also noted that the most up-to-date weaponry abandoned by the foreign forces had found its way into the hands of terrorist groups, criminal organizations, and even dacoits who were a threat to the nation.
