Taliban Attacks Amidst Peace Talks; Rival Group Declares Support for Islamic State

On July 7, the Taliban carried out two attacks in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

In the first incident, a suicide car bomber drove into a vehicle carrying foreign troops in eastern Kabul. The explosion blew a hole in a nearby wall. At least two people were injured.

In the second incident, three suicide bombers invaded a base used by Afghanistan’s intelligence agency. One blew himself up, while the other two were killed by responding security forces. One security guard died and another was hurt.

The two attacks come a week after the Taliban targeted a NATO convoy in Kabul, killing one civilian and injuring 12, and two weeks after heavy fighting between Taliban and Afghan military forces.

Despite the Taliban violence on July 7, Tuesday also marks the first of two days of official discussions between representatives from the Taliban and the Afghan government. Both parties have been engaged in informal talks throughout the past few months, but Tuesday is the first time the Afghan government sent a formal delegation. The meeting took place in Islamabad, Pakistan, where much of the Taliban leadership is based.

As evidenced by the juxtaposition of peace talks and violent suicide bombers, the Taliban’s willingness to negotiate with the Afghan government does not imply a cessation in violent activity. The group wants to control the government but is not concerned with how it obtains power. It is ready to use violent tactics, peaceful tactics, or a combination of the two.

In unrelated news, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the head of the Afghan Islamist organization Hezb-e-Islami, announced on July 5 that his organization supports the Islamic State (IS) and encouraged its fighters to help IS fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. This proclamation of support comes three weeks after the Taliban sent a letter on June 16 to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of IS, warning IS not to intervene in Afghanistan.

Hezb-e-Islami was formed in 1977 but has vied with the Taliban for power after the Taliban rose to prominence in the 1990s. It is believed to have thousands of current fighters that could form a recruitment base for IS in Afghanistan. IS has a history of annexing smaller groups into its folds and calling them wilayat, or provinces. Through pledges of allegiance from jihadist organizations all over Africa and the Middle East, it has become entrenched in many different countries and taken control of vast amounts of territory. Groups aligned with IS receive millions of dollars in funding every month, giving them increased capacity to carry out attacks and protect their holdings while at the same time making them completely dependent upon IS. IS does not have extensive operations in Afghanistan and is already facing opposition. On July 6, Gul Zaman, the second highest-ranking IS supporter in Afghanistan, was killed along with six other militants in an airstrike in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province. The spokesman for the Afghan National Security Directorate would not say who carried out the strike. Due to IS’s weak links to Afghanistan, and Hezb-e-Islami’s struggle to maintain relevance in the face of the more powerful Taliban, an acceptance of Hezb-e-Islami’s pledge of support would be mutually beneficial. It would allow IS to expand while giving Hezb-e-Islami more resources.

The Taliban and IS declared jihad on each other in April, after the Taliban condemned an IS attack that killed 35 people. IS activity in Afghanistan could disrupt the Taliban’s separate attempts to seize control of the country and establish an Islamic state there. The June 16 letter warned of Taliban retaliation if IS continues to act in Afghanistan. Hezb-e-Islami’s declaration of support appears to be taunting the Taliban to see just how much IS can do before the Taliban reacts. It is too soon to know what the exact repercussions of the declaration will be, but it will likely lead to more fighting between IS and the Taliban.