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Ismail Haniya, one of Hamas’ prominent leaders, called the Taliban leadership to congratulate it for the “heroic victory” over the US as well as for the rapid withdrawal of the US troops and the Taliban takeover of the disintegrating Afghan military strongholds. There is no surprise of course by this manifestation of Hama’s support of the Taliban. The deep religious pan-Islamic connection between both organizations isn’t new and expresses another expression of shared values and unwavering jihadist ideologic identity.
The US and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, planned to end at the end of August 2021, the rapid Taliban takeover of tens of provinces in the war-torn country and the meddling of regional actors, such as Russia, Pakistan, Iran, and China, in the Afghani affairs, have worrying strategic ramifications for the future of the country and poses political and security challenges for its neighbors.
On July 1st, 2021, while speaking at a UN conference on counter-terrorism, Vladimir Voronkov, the head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (OCT) stressed the rise in radical Islamic terrorism threat in Africa. Further, he said that within the framework of counter-terrorism one must prepare for tomorrow’s threat and conduct global war on terrorism while at the same time innovate and adjust traditional counter-terrorism modi operandi[1]. On the other hand, ISIS spokesman, Abu Hamza al-Qurashi, was quoted in al-Naba magazine (vol. 292, dated June 24th, 2021) as calling to continue ISIS’ Baqiya wa tatamaddad (i.e., remaining and expanding) campaign and to recruit Muslims in Africa.
[1] https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/470977-terrorists-more-innovative-in-world-shaken-by-coronavirus-un.html; also see https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/sc14282.doc.htm