MoD reiterates to fight Daesh, Taliban to bitter end

“All those who are fighting in Afghanistan and killing innocent people are our enemies. We will fight every terrorist group. Afghanistan will not consider those countries as friends who are supporting militants,” says Ministry of Defense’s spokesman

By Mansoor Faizy

KABUL: As Daesh is making all-out efforts to gain a stronghold in Afghanistan, the Taliban declared full-scale war against the Islamic State.

Spokesman for the militant group, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the Taliban fighters would fight Daesh (also known as Islamic State in the Global North) in the country.

“Our fighters [Taliban] are committed and ready to eliminate Daesh from Afghanistan. We will fight them [Daesh] in cooperation of Afghan nation,” he said.

In an interview with the Tasnim News Agency, Mujahid expressed the Taliban’s support for the Afghan nation in the battle against ‘foreign occupation’ and the presence of Daesh. “Taliban is aware of the threat of Daesh and in cooperation with the nation, has prevented the terrorist group from gaining a foothold in Afghanistan,” the Taliban spokesman said, adding that most of Daesh fighters were non-Afghans and have nothing to do with the Afghan people.

Daesh forces are living in a dire situation near the border, he said. “They have presence in a small area in Afghanistan.” Daesh fighters are not present in other areas of Afghanistan, and the Taliban will not allow such presence, he added.

It is widely believed that some countries in the region are backing the Taliban against Daesh—a terrorist organization with global designs.

When the spokesman of Afghan Ministry of Defense, Gen. Dawlat Waziri, was asked about secret support for the Taliban in the region, he said: “All those who are fighting in Afghanistan and killing innocent people are our enemies. We will fight every terrorist group.”

However, he did not comment on backdoor support for the Taliban at regional level, but reiterated that Afghan security forces would fight Daesh and the Taliban to bitter end.

“Those groups fighting in Afghanistan—no matter under which label—are actually destroying our country, killing innocent people, and turning our houses into ruins. This is not acceptable to us,” Dawlat Waziri told Afghanistan Times.

In the past three years several Afghan leaders including the former and current presidents said that they would not allow any country to use Afghanistan as ground for proxy wars.

Waziri told Afghanistan Times that war inside Afghanistan is totally unacceptable. “If anyone wants war, he should do it outside Afghanistan. Afghanistan is not a ground for proxy wars.”

In a response to a query that weather China, Russia and Iran are putting weight behind Taliban insurgents to fight Daesh in the country, he said that Afghanistan is an independent country. “Afghanistan will not consider those countries as friends who are supporting militants. We want them [foreign countries] to support Afghanistan instead of insurgents. We want them to help Afghan security forces to fight both Daesh and Taliban,” he said without taking name of any country.

He warned that those who are fighting in Afghanistan are enemies of the Afghan nation.

The comment of Taliban’s spokesman comes after Daesh has released photos that purport to show weapons and equipment that belonged to US soldiers and captured by the group in eastern Nangarhar province. One of these pictures shows the identity of a US soldier named Ryan Jay Larson, who has been “accounted for and remains in a duty status within his unit.”

The pictures also show bags, ammunition vests, a rocket, a US flag and several hand grenades.

However, the report of US weapons capture was denied by the US officials in Kabul. The US military spokesman Ron Flesvig told Afghanistan Times that they are aware of erroneous reports that US Army SPC Ryan Jay Larson was captured by ISIS in Afghanistan. These reports are false. “He has been accounted for and remains in a duty status within his unit,” he said.