The Islamic State having reared its ugly beturbanned head in Nangarhar, the Commander of the Faithful has decided to bury the hatchet for now and fight it out when the immediate danger (in the form of a competing Amir al-Moumineen) is dealt with.[CNNPHILIPPINES] Secretive Taliban leader Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title
Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
signaled support for Afghan peace talks in a message to supporters Wednesday (July 15).
"Concurrently with armed jihad, political endeavors, and peaceful pathways for achieving these sacred goals is a legitimate Islamic principle and an integral part of Prophetic politics," he said in a message released on the eve of Eid celebrations to mark the end of Ramadan.
The Taliban leader said he had ordered the formation of a "Political Office" that was "entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring and conducting all political activities."
"The objective behind our political endeavors as well as contacts and interactions with countries of the world and our own Afghans is to bring an end to the occupation and to establish an independent Islamic system in our country," he said, after explaining at length why negotiating with "infidels" is permitted by the Koran and actions of the Prophet Mohammed.
His message comes a week after the Afghan government held face-to-face talks with Taliban representatives for the first time in an attempt to work toward a grinding of the peace processor.
Mujahedeen told to stay united
Mullah Omar also sent an apparent warning to ISIS, the Sunni holy warrior group that has seized a swath of territory across Syria and Iraq, not to create a new front in Afghanistan.
"Since maintaining the unity of jihadi front in our country is a religious obligation, we have therefore directed all our mujahedeen to preserve their unity and forcefully prevent all those elements who attempt to create differences, damage this jihadi front or try to disperse the mujahedeen," he said.
His words come after ISIS published a long interview in its English-language propaganda magazine, Dabiq, in which a Moslem scholar argued that jihadi forces should back the self-declared caliphate of leader His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us...
over the "regional" leader Mullah Omar.
Insurgency rages
The Afghan government described last week's talks, hosted by Pakistain, as "the start of the first ever official peace talks" between the two sides.
Afghanistan's Caped President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
had been seeking dialogue with the Taliban with the encouragement of the United States.
But finding a peaceful resolution to the country's lengthy conflict will be challenging, to say the least.
As U.S. and other NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
troops are drawing down their numbers in Afghanistan, the Taliban insurgency continues to rage across wide areas of the country. The Lions of Islam attempted a brazen attack on the national parliament last month.
The U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan ended last year, leaving the Afghan military to lead the fight against the Taliban. The thousands of NATO troops that remain in Afghanistan are there in a training and support role.