Special interview with Abdulali Faiq, one of the founders of the “United States of Khorasan”
Interviewed by Firdavs Nizom
Recently, the existence of another military group called "Warriors of Khorasan" was announced. But Mr. Faiq says that this military group is the army of the “United States of Khorasan” (USK), and this is the military part of our shadow government, which covers the current territory of Khorasan - Afghanistan. About who Abdulali Faiq is and what the United States of Khorasan is, we read from his own words:
- I am Abdulali Faiq, from Panjshir. I am Tajik and my native language is Farsi. I am from Khorasan. I went to school in the Shahri Kuhna area of Kabul, graduated from the school of Abuhanifa, and later went to Libya. In Libya, I received a bachelor's degree in Islamic Studies and Arabic. My specialty is religion, I am an Islamic scholar. I memorized ten parts of the Holy Quran. In 2001, I came to London from Tripoli, the capital of Libya. In 2009, I entered Kingston University and received my second bachelor's degree. I have a master's degree in politics from the University of London. Last year (2021) I graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in Entrepreneurship and Management. This year I was supposed to enter Harvard University, and I was accepted, but the arrival of the Taliban in Khorasan forced me to change all my life plans. We created the United States of Khorasan with Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras.
- What is the United States of Khorasan and what are its members fighting for?
- We have created a government of exile called the United States of Khorasan, and our fighters are the military part of this government. In Khorasan, two options should be used to ensure justice: the pen and the weapon. Because we spent 21 years of civil work, culturalism, bureaucracy, mentalization, and stereotyping, but, unfortunately, they did not work. A very violent tribe called the Taliban captured Kabul in five days. If we want to establish democracy in Khorasan, it will come with the force of arms. We have organized cultural, economic, political, and other programs. Against this background, we created our own military intelligence departments in the four provinces of Khorasan and began practical work.
- What military activities have you been doing so far?
- The military department of the United States Khorasan was created specifically to support the National Resistance Front. We belong to them, they belong to us. Yes, we had an attack. When these tribal bandits, beings far from civilization, book burners, and barbarians of the ages entered the Panjshir, our fighters took the fight to psychologically ground them and show them that we exist physically.
- Money, weapons, ammunition, and other means are necessary for the war. Where do you get them from?
- From a historical point of view, our people are armed both morally and physically. Every home in Khorasan has at least one weapon. Unfortunately, this is natural, instead, there should have been a book and a pen. This means that every Khorasanian has a gun. We have no problem with this. If necessary, we will buy weapons and ammunition at the lowest price. Even from the Taliban themselves. It remains to transfer the weapon, which is a little difficult. Because the Taliban control everything. Our intelligence is collecting data and preparing the conditions for the transfer of weapons. The best thing we have done is our intelligence department, which works very dexterously and accurately. Without intelligence, we would not have done anything.
Our fighters are fully combated and experienced. The assassination of high-ranking military and civilian members of the Taliban government is our main goal. The distribution of leaflets in Taliban camps, mosques, and schools is another part of the activities of the USK fighters. I must say that we are making a lot of efforts to attract spies from among the Taliban. So far we have had very good results.
In terms of professional personnel, there is no shortage, we have gathered hundreds and thousands of qualified military personnel from all over the world, ready to fight. Thousands more said they could not wait to go to Khorasan and deal with the savage Taliban. Some even say that we buy both our weapons and our bullets, just open the corridor for us. We have opened this corridor. You will soon see positive changes. I hope that after good combat results, the neighboring countries of Khorasan will cooperate with us.
- You said: "We belong to the National Resistance Front, and they belong to us." So why did you start your military activities on your own under a different name and flag?
- We are not a movement or a party. The United States of Khorasan is a nation-state. We have a Constitution of 135 pages that covers all the indicators of a modern government. Every front that fights the Taliban inside Khorasan is ours. We can cooperate with all of them. If you notice, we have placed a resistance flag on top of our flag. We have never been separated from the National Resistance Front and we are not separating. Personally, I lost my older brother and dozens of relatives and friends in the resistance. In terms of policy and strategic plans, we should not put all our eggs in one basket. For example, when Ahmad Shah Masood (may Allah be pleased with him) was martyred, his government, his national anthem, and all his ideals were buried with him, and his followers sold his entire school because there was no other Ahmad Shah Masood, and for this reason, the fronts set up in different parts of Khorasan are beneficial, they just need to have coordination and cooperation.
In some cases, our views also diverge. For example, we absolutely do not recognize a state called Afghanistan because it is not officially registered with the United Nations (UN), and we do not accept the imposition of an Afghan identity on all ethnic groups. Our goals and our roadmap are completely different. All our demands and our red lines are clear. Nobody can cross them. We have drawn four red lines:
1 - Our language is Persian, not Dari.
2 - The name of our country is Khorasan, not Afghanistan.
3 - Our identity is Khorasani, not Afghan. Afghans are one of the tribes living in Khorasan. We are Khorasani Afghans, Khorasani Tajiks, and Khorasani Uzbeks.
4 - We must turn Khorasan into Singapore from an economic point of view. We have a clear plan for this.
- You spoke about different fronts, but why is there no common position between them yet? Even between them, there are contradictions.
- The front of resistance is a separate issue. It is present and actually fighting against the Taliban. But unfortunately, some other fronts want to pave the way for a place in the future government if there is any deal with the Taliban in the future. From a political standpoint, there is nothing wrong with that. But most of them have no charter, no clear vision, and their path is questionable, and their red lines are not accurate. That is why the fighting and the fight against the Taliban are not expanded. They say we want national unity. Although we have never been a nation. Geographically, historically, culturally, and linguistically, we have never been one. The heroes of nations have always been different, that is, each nation has its own heroes that other nations do not accept. Because the process of state-building is a gradual and sequential process that occurs from the bottom up, and not vice versa. But they, the Afghans, constantly tried to bring him down and wanted and want to force everyone to become brothers. In general, there are many differences. Of course, the war in Khorasan is an inter-ethnic war - between Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns. Our fathers did not say this and were engaged in politics. Because they were not caring and political people. Each Pashtun emir only used force against non-Pashtuns. In the 19th century, Amir Abdurrahmankhan, in the 20th century, Hashim Khan, and in the 21st century, Mullah Omar massacred non-Pashtuns. That is, we were exploited for three centuries, but we were silent. The result is already known. The dark time has passed. The new generation will never tolerate this again. These facts must be clarified in the activities of the front.
- Ethnocentrism and tribalism were the reality of Afghanistan, and with the advent of the Taliban, it became clearer, and ethnic contradictions reached their final climax. Apart from this, the Pashtuns are a reality in this country. Don't you think that the fight against the Taliban and their ideas will be very difficult and difficult with such a firm position that you have taken towards the Pashtuns?
- From the point of view of social pathology and the general psyche of our people, that is, of non-Afghan origin, we are divided in terms of mentality. Accept or not, this is the bitter truth. Because from the mullahs of the mosque to the politicians of our country, they did not tell us anything about this. They just said that we were brothers, but because of this game of brotherhood, we were massacred and turned our homeland into a caravanserai. We have drawn a completely different roadmap to stop playing with our people, and we are very clear and serious about this path. For this reason, our path is more varied, but we have no problem with any ethnic group in Khorasan. On the contrary, the Afghans have had problems with us for more than 270 years.
- On the contrary, Pashtuns accuse you of ethnocentrism and inciting ethnic strife in society...
- You see, Ahmad Shah Massoud was unparalleled both in terms of religious convictions and in terms of political and military genius. This was a man who would not be born again. But this great man is criticized, called a Kulyabian and a Russian mercenary. There are thousands of charges against him. When they do not accept Ahmad Shah Massoud, even slander the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), then who are we? When you refuse dirty Afghan clothes, you are their enemy. They ruled for 274 years, we say that the Afghan should be silent for 100 years, apologize for 100 years, and pay compensation for 100 years.
- So what can be done to unite ethnic groups and keep Afghanistan or Khorasan within the current geography?
- Ethnocentrism, unfortunately, has become a disease and a way of life for the Afghans. Why do Afghan feminists, technocrats, mullahs, akhunds and Taliban have only one worldview - Afghanvali? For the sake of preserving Afghanistan, they do not want to lose their strength, authority, and political power in any case. Therefore, most of them support the current Taliban regime only because it is Afghan. But something that is very important to us, it's been a year and a half since we non-Afghans got freedom from our false leaders. That is, Afghanism was hiding behind these treacherous leaders. At the same time, the false leaders said that we are brothers and that we have national unity. Because they had economic and financial interests. They even had family ties, but all non-Pashtuns paid for it. When the Taliban came, they all fled. Now only the poor and peasant children are fighting in the Hindu Kush.
Right now, the best sensible path is confederation and federalism. This is good for the Afghans themselves, that is, the followers of Mullah Omar can rule in the south with their rotten thoughts. A small ethnic group can no longer rule all of us. This tribe knows that the new generation will not accept them anymore. They no longer have a leader. They are either leaders or they think like leaders.
- The federalization of Afghanistan is what some anti-Taliban forces are calling for. Even some non-Pashtuns who were against federalism a few years ago are talking about it. Do you think anti-Taliban Pashtuns support the United States of Khorasan?
- Afghans in our discussion no longer matter. These people have ruled for hundreds of years, now they have no other way. All our attention should be focused on the non-Afghan peoples, such as the Nuristanis, Pashais, Balochs, and the like because they have been under the yoke of Afghanism for centuries. Mahmud Tarzi cited two erroneous phenomena: one, he contrasted the Dari language with the Persian language, and the other - he created a common name for the inhabitants of Khorasan - Afghans, i.e. Pashtuns and forced all ethnic groups to call themselves Afghans.
Now we have started the information process. When we inform the people, they don't need to be given weapons, they will find their way and a confederation or federation will be built.
