Taliban suicide team strikes NDS headquarters in Afghan city
The attack belies U.S. officials’ claims that the Taliban has not been fighting in Afghanistan’s cities.
The attack belies U.S. officials’ claims that the Taliban has not been fighting in Afghanistan’s cities.
Over the past week, the Taliban has killed or wounded more than 420 Afghan security personnel during attacks across Afghanistan. This buries claims by Afghan officials who claimed the Taliban agreed to extend its Ei-ul-Fitr ceasefire.
the Taliban continues to make it clear that it won’t accept anything less than a return of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In a recent video, it extols the virtues of jihad while it denounces “deviants … who who are trained in the poisonous deviant beliefs of atheism, communism, secularism, democracy, and other satanic western and disbelieving ideologies.”
The Taliban’s statement should raise deep concerns with U.S. officials about the group’s reliability to be an effective counterterrorism partner against Al Qaeda and other terror groups.
The Taliban’s two deputy emirs and the head of its political office lauded suicide bombers and other “martyrdom seekers” who are working to achieve the goal of the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Mullah Haibatullah, the leader of the Afghan Taliban and its Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, again called for the establishment of an “Islamic government” and the imposition of the group’s harsh versions of sharia.
The Taliban has taken credit for 17 attacks per day against Afghan security forces. Despite promises from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the Taliban would “destroy” Al Qaeda, the Taliban has not lifted a finger against the group.
In a follow up to episode one, hosts Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn explain why wishful thinking in Afghanistan has led the U.S. to portray the Taliban as something it is not. True peace is not on the horizon.