Sources close to Mullah Hibatullah, the Taliban leader, claim that many Sunni extremist jihadist groups, from South Asia to North Africa, have pledged allegiance to the group’s leader.
According to them, al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram and the Pakistani Taliban are groups that have pledged allegiance to the Taliban.
Al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, was the first jihadist group to pledge allegiance to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the founder of the Taliban, in 1995, during the first Taliban government. This pledge of allegiance has been renewed several times.
In the second case, al-Qaeda, led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, pledged allegiance to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, and after the death of the former Taliban leader, it also renewed its allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the current leader of the group.
Sources within the Taliban told Afghanistan International that after the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul, Saif al-Adel, the current leader of al-Qaeda, has once again reiterated his network's allegiance to Mullah Haibatullah.
Armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda in Africa and Yemen have also pledged allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah. These include al-Shabaab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, Jemaah Islamiyah Maghreb in northwest Africa, Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin and Ansar al-Sharia in Libya, which operate under the umbrella of al-Qaeda. Some of these groups have independently pledged allegiance to Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah.
Pakistani armed jihadist groups
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was the first and only jihadi group in Pakistan to pledge allegiance to the Afghan Taliban leader since its establishment under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud. This pledge of allegiance has been renewed several times, and in the most recent case, Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, the current leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), renewed his allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.
On August 19, 2021, Mufti Noor Wali congratulated the Taliban's victory in a video message and once again pledged allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.
In Pakistan, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba had also reportedly pledged allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah.
However, according to new information, in recent months, some Pakistani armed jihadist groups, such as Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which have close ties to Pakistan's intelligence agency, have joined ISIS-K and ended their allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah.
Armed groups of Central Asian countries
During the Taliban's first rule, armed fighters from Central Asia and Chinese Uyghurs were present in the ranks of the group. At the time, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the East Turkestan Movement were among the groups that pledged allegiance to the Taliban leader, but the allegiance ended in 2014.
In 2014, after the Pakistani army launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan, Uyghur fighters and members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan were relocated to Zabul Province in Afghanistan.
Because of the Taliban's close ties with China, the Taliban, led by Mullah Mansour, sent a military unit under the command of Pir Agha to Zabul, which killed defected Uyghur fighters and their families.
After this incident, the East Turkestan Movement distanced itself from the Taliban and no longer trusts the Taliban as before. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan also distanced itself from the Taliban after the Zabul operation in 2014 and currently has no allegiance to the Taliban.
Now, many Central Asian jihadi fighters have joined ISIS-K and are working against the Taliban.
