Taliban Prevents Disclosure of Its Leader’s Decree About Prohibition of Jihad in Pakistan

Reliable sources confirmed to Afghanistan International that Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, has issued a decree which announced Jihad in Pakistan as forbidden (Haram).

Sources said that the Taliban group is worried about domestic reactions and does not want to publicise the decree.

Islamabad asked the Taliban to publicise the decree in order to prevent the attacks of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its Afghan supporters.

According to the sources, Asif Durrani, Pakistan's special representative for Afghanistan affairs, last month had met with Taliban’s foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani and discussed the decree.

Sources said that the order of the leader of the Taliban has been communicated to the Pakistani authorities to show the group’s determination that Afghan soil is not a threat to Islamabad.

Currently, the decree of Akhundzada has been delivered to Taliban officials and individuals, including Mullah Yaqoob, the Taliban's Minister of Defence.

Mullah Yaqoob was the first to have implied the presence of a decree to ban Jihad in Pakistan.

The Taliban's defence minister announced last week that if someone goes outside of Afghanistan with the intention of jihad, his work is not called jihad.

He said, "If the Emir [leader] stops the Mujahideen from fighting and they still go to fight, this war is not called Jihad."

The Taliban-controlled Afghanistan National Television had broadcast the Taliban’s defence minister’s statement on Saturday.