Taliban brands Islamic State ‘scruffy and uncouth’, wants group destroyed

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An image taken from a video shows an Islamic State member known by his nom de guerre Ukashah al-Iraqi. He is purported by IS to have been among nine jihadists involved in the November Paris attacks that killed 130 people. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:25pm, 4 Feb 2016Updated: 4:54pm, 4 Feb 2016

The Taliban may have sheltered Osama bin Laden before the September 11 attacks, but the Afghan militants want nothing to do with the Islamic State group, branding it “scruffy and uncouth”.

Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said the Taliban was giving up on holding talks with IS and wanted it destroyed to prevent it from gaining any foothold in Afghanistan. He accused the media and intelligence agencies of inflating the IS’ strength.

“We’ve used all reasonable chances and options for peace efforts, but apparently those people are not rational, and reconciliation and talks with them is not possible,“ Mujahed said by email. He called the group, known by the Arabic acronym Daesh, “a scruffy and uncouth production of nations in the Middle East” that “has no place in our community”.

A man referred to by his nom de guerre Abu Fu'ad al-Faransi is seen in this Islamic State video of the supposed participants in the November Paris attacks. Photo: Reuters

For the Taliban, IS is just another group in a long list of enemies that have tried and failed to uproot it from the Pashtun-speaking desert-like areas of southern Afghanistan. Just as Daesh fighters arrive, the US and its allies are looking to exit after 15 years of war that have killed about 2,300 American soldiers and cost more than US$700 billion.

In a response to emailed questions, Mujahed sought to portray the Taliban’s strength as world powers look to restart peace talks. Besides ridiculing IS, Mujahed downplayed internal divisions, repeated calls for foreign forces to leave the country and said the group controlled 70 per cent of Afghanistan.

In an interview in India on Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah - Afghanistan’s second-most powerful policy maker - disputed the Taliban’s territorial claims, calling them “exaggerated”. He also said the government makes no difference between the Taliban and IS, and will continue to fight any groups that don’t join in peace talks.

IS militants emerged over the past few years in conflict-hit areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan after some former Taliban members pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The group has captured some small areas in eastern Afghanistan, and US commanders estimate it has as many as 3,000 fighters.