RASC News Agency: The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan claimed that the Taliban’s exaggerated portrayal of ISIS allows them to leverage the fight against ISIS for concessions and exploitation from regional countries. In a statement released on Thursday, May 2, the National Resistance Front noted that the Taliban recently initiated a targeted domestic and international propaganda campaign to advance a false narrative.
Referencing the ontology of ISIS, the Front argued that the Taliban are the source of terrorism, questioning how the group can claim to fight ISIS while using the battle against ISIS-Khorasan to attract regional attention and concessions from regional countries. The statement highlighted that over the past decade, the Taliban and ISIS have been equally destructive, sharing responsibility for devastation and the killing of innocent Afghanistani civilians. Both groups present significant security threats to Afghanistan and the region, acting as two sides of the same coin.
The statement noted that those who once used the Taliban as a brutal instrument for advancing their strategic goals are now seeking to legitimize the Taliban while employing ISIS as a tool for geopolitical objectives. The National Resistance Front emphasized the ideological, doctrinal, and operational commonalities between the Taliban and ISIS, including their shared goals, violent and cruel tendencies, opposition to human culture and civilization, foreign support, and methods of recruiting and manipulating youth.
The statement acknowledged that despite the Taliban’s claims of combating ISIS, the presence of ISIS-Khorasan and over 20 other terrorist groups has grown, creating a safe environment for expansion and becoming a serious potential threat to regional security and stability. The National Resistance Front highlighted ongoing efforts to recruit and radicalize Tajik youth to create a new identity for a terrorist group, an act that tarnishes the identity of the Tajik and Khorasan regions.
The statement warned of concentrated efforts to recruit Tajik youth and promote false narratives linking the National Resistance Front with ISIS, allowing the Taliban to arrest and kill innocent individuals. The National Resistance Front, which has organized attacks against the Taliban for the past two and a half years, views the Taliban as a regional security threat akin to ISIS. The Front criticized the suspicious exaggeration of ISIS-Khorasan recruiting from Tajik citizens, suggesting that those who used the Taliban for strategic goals now use ISIS to legitimize the Taliban.
The National Resistance Front stated that the Taliban exploit the “false link” between the Front and ISIS-Khorasan to further suppress resistance fighters. The National Resistance Front called on brave young people within the country who seek to oppose the Taliban and regional countries to stay vigilant and aware of the grand conspiracies and deceitful tactics of Afghanistan’s enemies.
The statement concluded that the National Resistance Front honors the memory of the first martyrs who died fighting global terrorism and, despite the world’s indifference to Taliban and ISIS terrorism, continues its fight against all forms of extremism with a clear historical stance.
