Qari Fasihuddin is now Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defense, the most powerful non-Pashtun in the Taliban government. Some portray him as very influential. They say he even threatened his leadership that he would declare autonomy in areas under his control.
Author: Farid Ahmadi
"Makhdum Qari Fasihuddin", now "Qari Fasihuddin Fitrat", commander of the Taliban in the north and northeast of Afghanistan, was named "Conqueror of the North" after the fall of Kabul. He received this nickname from the Taliban after the forces under his command almost without a fight captured the northern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan from the government of Ashraf Ghani.
Representatives of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), who are at war with Qari Fasihuddin, consider him a "lackey" of the Taliban *, one who is in the service of foreigners who want to conquer his homeland and enslave his people.
Who is this person?
Badakhshan "Talibtajiks"
Those who are aware of the activities of Qari Fasihuddin say that he is a Tajik, over 50 years old, born in the Varduj district of the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. During the jihad against the USSR, he was one of the leaders of the groups of Sayed Najmuddin Wasiq, the commander of the Jamiat Islami (Islamic Society) led by Burhanuddin Rabbani, and a member of the Shuroi Nazzor (Supervisory Council) of Ahmad Shah Massoud.
Wasiq was killed during the early 1990s civil war in Afghanistan after a shootout with two commanders of the Aburab Rasul Sayyaf Islamic Movement in Badakhshan. After him, the command of his troops passed to his son, who later joined the Taliban, one of whom was Qari Fasihuddin.
For some time he studied in Pakistani schools, became involved in extremist ideologies, and came to the attention of Pakistani intelligence. After the invasion of Afghanistan by US and NATO forces, Qari Din Mohammad Hanif, a Taliban commander in northern Afghanistan, introduced Fasihuddin to the Taliban leadership as the leader of the group.
ON THE PHOTO: Mawlawi Amanuddin (left) and Mawlawi Najib (right)
Qari Hanif, a native of the Yaftal region, Badakhshan province of Afghanistan, is the only Tajik and non-Pashtun among the high-ranking Taliban who was the Minister of Planning and Higher Education in their first government (1996-2001) and now heads the Ministry of Economy. In 2013, Hanif was also featured as one of the ten leaders in the Qatari Taliban office that negotiated with the US.
In addition to Hanif and Fasihuddin, another "Talibtajik" of Badakhshan is now the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the "Islamic Emirate" - Pahlavan Shamsuddin from the Kishm region. Another is Mawlawi Najib from the Raghistan district of Badakhshan province, who became a powerful commander during the second Taliban appearance and controls the gold trade in the region. Another Badakhshi is Mawlawi Amanuddin, who has been appointed commander of the Taliban's air force in the Ministry of Defense.
The list of influential "Talibtajiks" - the Badakhshis does not end with these names, but one thing is certain: they are considered the main representatives of the Tajiks in Afghanistan under the Taliban government, and Qari Fasihuddin is undoubtedly the most powerful of them all.
Responsible for the Panjshir War
After 2010, on Hanif's recommendation, the Taliban as the «shadow» governor of Badakhshan appointed Qari Fasihuddin. To the end of the republic, his group has killed dozens of Afghan police and military personnel in various parts of the province, and even in one operation, they beheaded eight soldiers.
In 2015, after a joint operation of NATO and Afghan security forces, reports surfaced that he was killed along with 40 of his fighters. He later denied the news himself. His other business was collecting tribute from the people, merchants, as well as drug dealers and smugglers of Badakhshan. This is another story.
Early last year, Fasihuddin was invited to the Taliban's political office in Doha, Qatar. Members of the Taliban Military Council, headed by Mullah Yaqub, son of Mullah Umar, the founder of the Taliban movement, appointed Fasihuddin as commander of the northeastern zone, which includes the provinces of Kunduz, Takhar, Badakhshan, and Baghlan.
Last September, Qari Fasihuddin was given primary responsibility for leading the Taliban's operation against the National Resistance Forces in Panjshir. Apparently, the main reason for this decision by the Taliban leadership was that he was the commander of the northeastern zone, the provinces bordering the legendary valley. On the other hand, sending to Panjshir, the Tajik valley where the majority of all Tajiks live, a Tajik with his forces, who are also Tajiks, has political reasons that need no explanation.
An audio recording of Fasihuddin's conversation with the then Taliban Defense Minister Mullah Qayyum Zakir, which was provided to the author by the NRFA, indicates that in the Panjshir War, the forces under his command are deployed in Gulbahar, Tangii Panjshir and Darvozai Tojikon (Parwan province). Another photo shows his fighters near the Khavak pass.
Regional factor
Qari Fasihuddin also commands more than a thousand foreign fighters based in the provinces of Takhar, Kunduz, and Badakhshan, who belong to organizations such as the Islamic Jihad Union *, Jamaat Ansarullah *, Lashkari Tayiba *, Al-Qaeda *, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan*, Islamic Movement of East Turkestan* and others. In an interview with the Taliban radio station Jundullah * in 2013, he said that most of them are "Mujahideen of Movarounnahr", citizens of Central Asian countries.
According to reliable data, about 50 citizens of Tajikistan have their base in the Darqad district of Takhar province, bordering Tajikistan, and their main job is to prepare homemade bombs for the "fedaiyan" or Taliban suicides, foreign terrorists, and other terrorist attacks.
A month ago, before the fall of Kabul, a special forces officer of Corps 207-Pamir, the now defeated Afghan army, told Sputnik Tajikistan that during an operation against the Taliban in the Khinjan district of Baghlan province, they encountered the bodies of foreign terrorists who had passports of Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan.
“At that time, I wanted to announce their names through the media, but the National Security Agency asked me to refrain. All documents and evidence, and even the bodies of about 20 foreigners, were transported to Kabul. Three militants who were wounded and taken prisoner said during interrogation that they were subordinate to Qari Fasihuddin,” he said.
Meanwhile, the command of the Taliban and foreign fighters in territory geographically bordering Tajikistan and the rest of Central Asia turns Qari Fasihuddin into a "regional factor." It depends on how he settles in power or survives the foot blade of the secret service's games, and most importantly, how beneficial he can be to the Taliban, especially the Haqqani Network, and its international backers in future events.
"Lakey"
One of the commanders of the National Resistance Front considers Qari Fasihuddin and his like "Tajik Taliban" to be agents serving foreigners and internal enemies.
“We call such people “lackeys” - “slaves”. Taliban - Pashtuns want to occupy Tajik lands and trample on their culture. Fasihuddin and others like him help them in this matter. Such "lackeys" were in the governments of Karzai and Ghani. One of them was until yesterday in the service of Ashraf Ghani, who incited him to attack the Panjshir and imprisoned dozens of young Panjshirs. Qari Fasihuddin is just such a "lackey" serving Pakistan and the Taliban. Such people will one day be destroyed by their patrons when they complete their mission.” he said.
Threat to the Taliban
A former official from Badakhshan, who lives in Kabul, told Sputnik Tajikistan that the "Tajik Taliban", generally non-Pashtuns and foreigners, have more of a militant, local or "fuel" role and are deprived of decision-making power. According to him, when Kabul fell, Qari Fasihuddin arrived in the city but was detained by the Taliban for two days*, because the phenomenon of "Tajik Taliban" is incredible to the southern Pashtun Taliban.
“Fasihuddin and his men were searched by the Taliban at every gate entering Kabul. The Logar Taliban in Gulbagh and Rishkhor and the Wardak Taliban in Kabul itself mistreated the Badakhshi Taliban, even killing six of them. Fasihuddin raised the issue with the Taliban leaders, threatening to declare the north and east as autonomy if such violence against his people continues,” he said.
Then Fasihuddin was released through the mediation of Pahlavan Shamsuddin, now Mavlavi Shamsuddin Badakhshani, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Islamic Emarat. He was given the home of Marshal Abdurshid Dostum, according to another former official in the elite Shirpur area of Kabul city. After his release, he gathered all the Badakhshan Taliban in Kabul and went to Baghlan to prepare for the war in Panjshir.
He went against Ahmad Masood, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, who once commanded him. He is still at war with his former associates, and the Taliban share seats in Kabul. Perhaps this is the fate of a man who is called a "lackey" in Afghanistan.
* The organization is under UN sanctions for terrorist activities
