Who is behind the killing of high-ranking Taliban commanders in Badakhshan?
Author: Farid Ahmad, editor-in-chief of "Sangar"
On June 6, at 8:00 am, the acting governor of Badakhshan, Mawlavi Nisarahmad Ahmadi, was killed at the crossroads of Mahkama of the Shahri Nav micro-district of the city of Fayzabad, the center of this province. A mined car of the Romix brand hit the car of the deputy governor, and as a result of the explosion, according to the Taliban, 2 people were killed - Mawlavi Ahmadi and his bodyguard, and 6 more civilians were injured.
On June 8 at 10:00 am, during the Fatiha (commemoration) ceremony of Mawlavi Nisarahmad Ahmadi, a suicide attack was carried out in the Nabawi mosque of Faizabad city, as a result of which 23 people died and about 83 were injured.
The target of the bombing was Mawlavi Safiullah, a former police chief of Baghlan province, who was approached by a suicide bomber during a fatiha and blew himself up in his arms.
Who took them off the stage?
In these two events, which are undoubtedly a link in the same chain, several hypotheses can be traced: 1) the cleansing of the core of the Badakhshi Taliban's "Jamiatovites"; 2) the internal disagreements of the Taliban themselves, from Badakhshan to large groups in Afghanistan; 2) Pashtunization and ethnic cleansing program; 4) the Igilization of the North.
"JAMIATIES"
Most of the Taliban commanders in Badakhshan who were killed after the Taliban came to power were either former members of the Jamiati Islami (Islamic Society) party of Afghanistan or came from the Yaftal region. All were killed in ISIS and Taliban-style bombings and suicide attacks.
Mawlavi Abdulfattah, the head of the mines in Badakhshan, was killed in April 2022 as a result of a suicide attack, was both a Jamiyati and a native of Yaftal. Badakhshan Police Chief Mullah Abdulhaq, who was killed in a bombing last December, came from the family of a Jamiati Islami member of the Khosh district of that province.
Mawlavi Nisarahmad Ahmadi was also from Yaftal and was one of the leaders of the groups of Basir Khalid, commander of the Jamiati Islami. Mawlavi Safiulla was also from Yaftal and one of the commanders of this party in the past.
Burhanuddin Rabbani, leader of the Jamiati Islami, was also from the Yaftal district of Badakhshan province.
"THE TALIBAN-STYLE LOCALISM"
Badakhshan is divided into seven regions - Center and Yaftal, Tange Bolo (the cities of Jurm, Yumgan, Varduj, Karan, and Manjan), Baharak (Baharak, Shukhada, Arganjkha, Khash), West of the Kokcha River (Kishm, Daraim, Tishkan), Raghs and Shakhri Buzurg, Darvazes and Pamirs.
Of all these, three regions or localities are the most important: Tangi Bolo, Yaftal, and West Kokcha. Notable figures of the Badakhshan Taliban such as Qari Dinmuhammad Hanif (Minister of Economy) and Mawlavi Safiulla belong to the Yaftal, Qari Fasihuddin (Chief of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense) and Mawlavi Amanuddin (Governor of Badakhshan) belong to Tangi Bolo, Mulla Abdulghani, and Mawlavi Shamsuddin belong to West Kokcha. Mawlavi Najib is from the Raghs region.
Mawlavi Ahmadi was from the village of Juzgun in the Yaftali Bolo district. During the republic, he was the imam of a mosque, who was removed from his duties after the conspiracy of fellow village officials and, in anger, joined the Taliban.
What is not taken seriously in the news of his assassination is the words of Muizuddin Ahmadi, head of the Badakhshan Information and culture department, who introduced him as the "deputy" and "acting" governor of the Badakhshan province.
If he was the acting governor, then where is the governor himself - Mawlavi Amanuddin? According to our information, he is now in Saudi Arabia and is busy with the Hajj ceremony. Rumors have been circulating for two months now that Amanuddin has been appointed governor of Ghur province and that Ahmadi will replace him. The main Ahmadi supporter among the leaders of the Badakhshan Taliban was Mawlavi Safiullah.
Now what do we have? Ahmadi cannot become governor, killed. They also got rid of his patron - Mawlavi Safiulla.
"EMIR'S PEOPLE"
The Badakhshan Taliban-Tajiks are not an independent united and cohesive force - they are divided between the main factions of the Pashtun-Taliban.
Qari Fasihuddin, Mawlavi Amanuddin, Qari Vasil, Mawlavi Abdulgani, Najib Ragi, Juma Darvazi belong to the Haqqani faction, Qari Dinmuhammad Hanif, Mawlavi Shamsuddin, Mawlavi Kahar Darvazi belong to the Kandahari faction.
Mawlawi Ahmadi and Mawlawi Safiullah were associated with Mullah Haibatullah's faction.
Conclusion: The Haqqani Network could have been behind their murder so as not to lose power in Badakhshan. Mawlavi Amanuddin, who is suspended, belonged to the Haqqani network.
There were also rumors that someone close to Mullah Haibatullah, the leader of the Taliban, could be appointed governor of Badakhshan. Ahmadi was just such a person, and with his appointment in Badakhshan, Mawlavi Safiullah would have strengthened his position.
On the other hand, Mullah Haibatullah is close to Iran. Appointing the man of Iran is to thwart the Pakistani-American isilization plan being carried out by the Haqqani Network.
However, Qari Dinmuhammad Hanif left the Fayzabad mosque before the explosion, along with Qari Fasihuddin and Mawlavi Abdulgani, the former governor of Badakhshan, and went to the provincial office to introduce the latter instead of Mawlavi Ahmadi acting governor of the Badakhshan.
As a result, two people associated with Mullah Haibatullah were removed from the Badakhshan scene, and a person from the "Haqqani network" was appointed governor of Badakhshan.
"GOOD TALIBAN"
Mawlawi Safiullah and Mawlawi Ahmadi were Taliban who had good relations with the people of Badakhshan and strongly opposed the deployment of Pashtun naqils (settlers) and ISIS members in Badakhshan. ISIS claimed responsibility for the killing of Mawlawi Ahmadi and may take responsibility for the killing of Mawlawi Safiullah.
Sources close to Ahmadi say he traveled to Kabul a few weeks ago and had a controversial discussion with Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban interior minister and leader of the Haqqani network, on the issue of ethnocentrism and Salafis or ISIS in Badakhshan.
Mawlavi Safiullah was removed from his post as chief of police in Baghlan more than six months ago, was living under "house arrest" in Kabul and, according to some reports, was associated with the forces of the Afghan Resistance Front in Baghlan and Badakhshan.
Now that the Taliban want to move the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, ISIS, and the Pashtuns from the south to the north of Afghanistan, we can have two conclusions:
Firstly, due to the mono-ethnization of Afghanistan, the Pashtun Taliban are destroying the non-Pashtun Taliban in the same way that the Karzai-Ghani governments have eliminated anti-Taliban figures as an anti-Pashtun factor.
Secondly, ISIS operates in Afghanistan under the auspices of the Haqqani Network and Pakistan, and by eliminating high-ranking anti-ISIS commanders, they are clearing the field not only for their own people, such as Qari Fasihuddin and other "Haqqanis", but for ISIS too.
Earlier there were reports that Qari Fasihuddin and other members of the Haqqani Network are the same ISIS leaders that the US and Pakistan are trying to replace the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"BADAKHSHAN SUICIDE BOMBER"
An interesting question, has anyone ever seen or known a Badakhshan suicide bomber? With the exception of Hamid Badakhshani, the perpetrator of the attack on the Shahcharag mosque in Iranian Shiraz, who was an ISIS member, was there and is there a suicide Taliban from Badakhshan? Yes, it is not known who is present in this unknown terrorist army, because their identity is lost when they become members of it.
The Badakhshan Taliban have interesting differences from the Pashtun Taliban. The same Amanuddin, known for his cruelty and lawlessness, invited the famous singer Mir Maftun to sing at the ceremony of his wedding with his second wife, and the southern Taliban killed several singers and at least destroyed their musical instruments. In Badakhshan, there were a few cases of killings of former officers and soldiers, and some were even hired by the Taliban. The Badakhshan Taliban are very sensitive to Pashtunization and hold all the reins of power in the province.
So, who were the terrorists who killed Mawlawi Ahmadi and Safiullah, where did they come from and who brought them here? If they were ordered as singers, then the right of the fee belongs to their owner somewhere in Kabul, Kandahar, or Peshawar, because they themselves went to "paradise" for the fee, to their "houris"...
