Senior Taliban cleric terms cross-border attacks against Islam

Any violation of the government's permission would be terrorism and not holy war, says cleric

A senior cleric of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Mufti Abdul Rauf, has termed cross-border attacks from the country to Pakistan or any other neighbouring country as un-Islamic and haraam.

Rauf, in a video message on Twitter, differentiated between the various forms of jihad or holy war and said the form of jihad which is compulsory for all Muslims and citizens is when a country's soil is invaded or suffers from foreign intrusions. 

امیر کی اجازت کے بغیر افغانستان سے باہر جہاد کی نیت سے جانا جائز نہیں، مفتی عبدالرؤف کا فتوی
انہوں نے کہا کہ اقدامی جہاد امیر پر فرض ہے ۔ امیر کے حکم کے بغیر باہر ممالک میں جہاد کے لیے جانا کسی صورت جائز قدم نہیں۔
1/2 pic.twitter.com/yCzJ4ZTH02

— افغان اردو (@AfghanUrdu) August 10, 2023

He further said that preventive or proactive jihad would always be conditional on permission given by the rulers or the government of the country and any violation of the government's permission would be terrorism and not holy war. 

Earlier, Pakistan sought a public decree from the Afghan Taliban chief declaring activities of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as un-Islamic.

The demand from Pakistan for an explicit order by Taliban Supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada came after the recent surge in cross border terrorist attacks.

Pakistan dispatched a senior diplomat to Kabul for a three-day trip with a clear message that the interim Afghan government will have to abide by the commitment it made with the international community in Doha Agreement.

Afghan interim defence minister Mullah Yaqub in an interview earlier this week revealed that the Taliban chief declared that people going to launch attacks outside the country was not jihad. He did not name any country but the reference was apparently to Pakistan, which is upset with the current spike in terrorist attacks. However, official sources said this was not sufficient. Pakistan wants a clear and explicit decree from the Kandhar based Taliban chief, declaring TTP attacks against Pakistan un-Islamic.

Pakistan is also expressing concerns over the involvement of Afghan nationals in some of the terrorist attacks. Army Chief General Asim Munir on Monday issued a stern warning in Peshawar, saying that the involvement of Afghan nationals in terrorist attacks was detrimental to regional peace.