Afghan National Resistance Front Accuses Taliban Of Maintaining Contact With ISIS And Al-Qaeda

Illustration of a convoy of special forces Taliban Battalion Badri 313. (Twitter/@Badri313Unit1)

JAKARTA - The Taliban group, which took power in Afghanistan on August 15, maintains close contact with the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda terrorist groups, Ali Maisam Nazary, head of external relations office for the Afghanistan National Resistance Front opposed to the Taliban, told TASS.

"Taliban contact with international terrorism remains. The Taliban absolutely cannot sever these ties, because they give terrorists an opportunity to gain legitimacy. All hopes that the Taliban will cut ties with extremist groups are completely unfounded," he said, quoted from TASS 12 November.

"The Taliban provides support for terrorist groups and makes them stronger every day. Currently, there is no clear line between the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and ISIS," he added.

The militia spokesman said recent killings of Afghan public figures and politicians, as well as terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, have been carried out by Taliban insurgents operating under the cover of ISIS members.

"Terrorists from the Taliban, ISIS, and Al-Qaeda may have different names and have different covers, but ideologically they are all the same," Nazary said.

Also, the spokesman for the National Resistance Front stressed that the Taliban maintains close contact with the terrorist organization Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the extremist group Jamaat Ansarullah, which is banned in Tajikistan.

"The Taliban's close contact with international terrorists threatens not only Central Asian countries, but the whole world," Nazary concluded.

The Taliban are known to have launched a large-scale operation to establish control over Afghanistan after the United States last spring announced its troop withdrawal.

To note, although over the past three months a number of acts of terrorism and armed attacks against civilians have occurred in Afghanistan, Taliban officials have repeatedly said the problem of ISIS has been overcome, calling it no longer a threat, only a headache for the Afghan people.