On October 3, a huge explosion was heard at the Eidgar Mosque in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. The mosque has a high reputation among the Taliban as it has a large Islamic seminary (Madressa). When the explosion occurred that day, a memorial service was being held for the mother of the Taliban interim government spokeswoman, Zabihula Mujahid. During the ceremony, an explosion occurred at the entrance of the mosque, killing or injuring those present. “The attack was caused by an improvised explosive device,” said Cari Hosti, a spokeswoman for the Taliban’s interim government’s interior ministry. “Five civilians were killed.” However, at least 12 people have been killed, 32 have been injured, and most of the injured are seriously injured, so the death toll is expected to rise. Reuters reported that the blast was “the most serious attack in Kabul since the withdrawal of U.S. troops.” The background behind the attack has not yet been revealed, but it is highly likely that the Taliban’s enemy, the Islamic State-Khorasan (hereafter IS-K), was responsible.
The Taliban did so in that the bombing was aimed at the family of Zabihula, a key figure in the current Taliban interim government. Within hours of the incident, the Taliban launched a massive IS campaign in downtown Kabul. This was the first large-scale military operation by the Taliban since the withdrawal of US forces in August. As a result of this operation, buildings in various parts of downtown Kabul collapsed and the walls of the buildings were full of bullet marks. That night, the Taliban interim government held an emergency press conference and announced that it had raided the Kabul hideout of IS-K. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who was involved in the bombing of the mosque, congratulated the victory on social media, saying, “As a result of the successful operation, the ISIS hideout has been completely destroyed.”
■’Sanggeuk’ IS-Taliban “We are orthodox”
IS-K refers to the Afghan branch of the Islamic State. Their base was located in the eastern Khorasan, hence the name IS-K. They started to form little by little in eastern Afghanistan from 2014, when IS was reviving in Syria. They had a polar opposite relationship with the Taliban, a native Afghan militant group. IS-K adheres to a much stricter interpretation of Islamic law than the Taliban. Therefore, the Taliban, who participated in the peace negotiations with the United States, are defined as ‘traitors’ and denounced as moderate. In Syria, ISIS has already retreated, but when it entered Afghanistan, it became a sensation among young fighters. ISIS claims to be the newest armed force in Afghanistan and asserts that it is the most orthodox because it interprets the scriptures more principledly than the Taliban. Currently, it is the most violent of the militants that advocate jihad (the armed struggle for the Islamic religion – the war for the gods).
From a Korean perspective, ISIS and the Taliban appear to be both Sunni Muslims and equally radical militants, but they are not. They fight each other as orthodox Muslims. On August 26, IS-K was the main culprit in a bomb attack at the entrance of Hamid-Karzai International Airport in Kabul, which was in the midst of chaos due to the withdrawal of U.S. troops, killing about 180 people, including 13 U.S. soldiers and dozens of Taliban soldiers. A fierce battle between the Taliban and IS-K is now in full swing in small and medium-sized cities in Kabul and Afghanistan. The Taliban, which is concerned with the daily war against ISIS, has imposed a curfew in the city of Jalalabad, the capital of the Nangarhar province, which is the key base of IS-K. On September 18, a bomb attack on a Taliban vehicle in Jalalabad killed three people and injured 19 others. The next day, on the 19th, a bus stop was attacked, killing two civilians and injuring a Taliban member. The curfew is a curfew by the Taliban, who cannot cope with the series of terrorist attacks in Jalalabad. Currently, all vehicles moving from Jalalabad are required to present approved documents, and residents who are forced to go out must notify the Taliban in advance. Shahid, who runs a hotel in Jalalabad, said, “The Taliban came and threatened to report anyone who looked like an IS member. There is currently no one in the hotel. “We can’t accept guests in a situation where the Taliban might come and cause trouble, and the IS might come and bomb,” he said.
The United States and the Taliban become partners in ‘counter-terrorism’
As ISIS bombing continued, the Taliban declared a so-called ‘war on terrorist groups’ and entered battle with ISIS. ISIS announced that it had committed the attacks in Jalalabad on the 18th and 19th. Upon hearing this news, the Taliban interim government immediately launched a ‘counter-terrorism operation’ in Jalalabad. It is an ironic sight that yesterday’s Taliban, which used to commit suicide bombings and surprise terrorism in the past, are now carrying out counter-terrorism operations. However, on September 22, assailants with guns rode tricycles and stormed the Jalalabad city checkpoint, killing two Taliban fighters and a passerby. Also on the 25th, an explosion occurred when a Taliban vehicle passed in downtown Jalalabad, killing one person and injuring seven others. While the Taliban are scouring Jalalabad to wage a war on terrorism, ISIS continues to cause terrorism like hide and seek.
ISIS is attacking the Taliban using improvised explosives not only in Jalalabad but also in Nangarhar, the main stage of IS activity. Although the Taliban are in a hurry to establish a government by forming a transitional government and announcing a third cabinet, they are caught up in the ‘war on terrorism’ by a terrorist group called IS-K. The US is supporting the Taliban. On August 27, the day after IS-K suicide bombings at Afghanistan’s Kabul Airport, US Central Command launched an unmanned drone strike against IS-K fighters in Nangarhar, Afghanistan. One IS-K member who was attacked in the airstrike was killed. For ISIS, the Taliban and the United States jointly attacked them. The Taliban and the United States were enemies of the Afghan war. As the enemy of the enemy is comrades, leaving behind this past, they have become partners in the ‘war on terrorism’.
ISIS continues to accuse the Taliban of being secular and an agent of the West working with the United States. But the Taliban are by no means secular. There are no women in the Taliban’s interim government cabinet yet, and they do not give women education opportunities. The president of Kabul University, Afghanistan’s most prestigious university, also became a Taliban cleric. Artists such as musicians and actors were ordered not to play instruments or sing. Even barbers are forcibly blocked from selling, instructing them to grow Taliban-style beards. Even at this level, the Taliban can be seen as an extreme Islamic organization. But IS-K accuses it of being secular too, so they should be seen as more extreme.
The shadow of poverty in Kabul
The conflict between the Taliban and IS-K is exacerbating the unrest among Afghan citizens. Afghanistan was engulfed in civil war for five years before the Soviet troops withdrew in 1990 and the Taliban took power in 1996. At that time, the civil war was so serious that it was said that most of the buildings in Afghanistan were destroyed. When a reporter asks Afghan people about the civil war during the Taliban era, he says, “It was the most serious right after the Soviet troops left.” The war between the Taliban and IS-K is similar to what it was after the Soviet forces retreated in the past. This time, the battle between the Taliban and IS-K in Kabul continued in various places for at least five hours. Afghan citizens who saw the country’s capital turned into a battlefield shudder at the beginning of the horror. “I could hear gunshots and explosions all over Kabul,” said Ha Mi-yun, a citizen of Kabul. Even in Kabul, bullets flew to my home in a relatively affluent area, and the balcony on the second floor was devastated by bullet marks. “I was hiding in the basement with my wife and children, and we realized that this time of horror had just begun.”
Rather than the Taliban’s retaliation, the most feared retaliation for the U.S. military withdrawal, the chaos and poverty that occurred in the fight between the Taliban and IS-K is actually driving Afghan citizens into refugees. For more than two months after the Taliban took control, Afghanistan faced extreme hardship. The World Food Program (WFP) reports that 93% of Afghan people are currently not getting enough food and are facing a hunger crisis. Since August 15, when the Taliban came to power, most aid to Afghanistan stopped after the Taliban came to power. Last month, the international community, including the United States and Germany, promised $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan, but this also became unclear when the Taliban interim government failed to form a cabinet that meets international standards. Afghanistan’s central bank’s foreign exchange reserves of 9 billion dollars (about 10.64 trillion won) deposited in the US and other countries have already been frozen. To put it simply, international aid is before deposit, and the Taliban interim government is poor.
The only place the Taliban can rely on is the international community
Since the Taliban occupation, even in the capital, Kabul, people are starving one after another. People came out with all their household items, such as household items, and second-hand markets were popping up all over the city of Kabul. Omar, a citizen of Kabul, said, “There are very few Afghan citizens who received a salary in September, so they have no choice but to cash anything to buy food. is too little,” he said. “It is very difficult to even buy one bread a day,” he said.
The thing that Afghans are most worried about is ‘electricity’. Ahead of winter, fears that the entire country, including the capital, Kabul, will fall into a blackout reign. Afghanistan imports electricity from Central Asian countries. But the Taliban government has no money to pay for electricity. Generators in Afghanistan are also not working. The fuel to run the generators was low-quality oil imported cheaply from Iran, but this became a problem and the generators stopped or broke down. As in the past when the U.S. military was stationed, it cannot be replaced with a new generator immediately after using high-quality fuel or when it breaks down.
The Taliban have absolutely no ability to overcome this power shortage. It is not easy to even get electricity bills from citizens in Korea. Even if citizens who can’t buy bread right away pay more for electricity, it’s not realistically possible. Since August 15, the Taliban has collected $8.9 million (about 10.5 billion won) in electricity bills from citizens for a month, a 74% decrease from the previous year. Unfortunately, it doesn’t even reach here in October. The Taliban’s interim government can only rely on donors from the international community. They are expected to pay back the arrears on Afghan electricity bills or the people’s electricity bills. It is for this reason that the Taliban interim government is trying to quickly be recognized as a legitimate government. A legitimate government can receive aid and overcome economic difficulties. However, IS-K is holding the Taliban’s ankles with various types of terrorism. For the Taliban, the first step toward becoming a legitimate government is the war on terrorism against IS-K. Yesterday’s terrorist groups are at the forefront of today’s counter-terrorism operations, and it cannot but be a shadow of the international community.
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