ISIS Supporters Slam Afghan Taliban And Al-Qaeda Over Taliban Delegation's Meeting In Doha With Iranian Ambassador

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Supporters of the Islamic State (ISIS) have lashed out at Al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban after a delegation from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Afghan Taliban organization) met with the Iranian ambassador to Qatar, Hameed Raza Dihqani, to express condolences for the November 27 assassination outside Tehran of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

The Afghan Taliban delegation meeting with the Iranian envoy in Doha

On November 30, 2020, Muhammad Naeem Wardak, the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate's Political Office in Doha, tweeted a picture of the Taliban delegation meeting with the Iranian ambassador.[1] The tweet noted that the Taliban delegation was led by Qari Deen Mohammad Haneef, the Taliban official "responsible for contact" with Iran, Turkey, and the Middle East.[2]

The Islamic Emirate and Iran have a long-standing relationship. In mid-2013, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, one of the main spokesmen of the Islamic Emirate, spoke from his hideout somewhere in Afghanistan with a ToloNews journalist to confirm that senior Taliban leaders paid a three-day visit to Tehran. The delegation was led by Sayed Tayyab Agha and included Mohammad Ullah Nomanee and Shamsuddin Pahlawan.[3]

In recent years, when the Islamic Emirate and the U.S. were engaged in talks in Doha on the future of Afghanistan, the Taliban leaders visited Tehran regularly to discuss regional issues. In September 2019, Iran confirmed that it hosted a four-member Taliban delegation to discuss the U.S.-Taliban talks, according to a report by Al-Jazeera television.[4]

Regarding the November 30 meeting between the Iranian ambassador and the Taliban leaders in Doha, supporters of the Islamic State (ISIS), which has been critical of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda for not adhering to what it considers authentic jihadi methodology, said the meeting was to express the Taliban's condolences to Tehran over the killing of scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.[5]

Writing on Telegram, ISIS supporter Bejad claimed that the Taliban are not a Salafi-jihadi movement because they do not subscribe to basic principles of Salafi-jihadi ideology, such as the principle of al-wala' wal-bara' ("loyalty to Muslims and enmity to non-Muslims") and considering Shi'ites to be non-Muslims.[6] Bejad criticized supporters of Al-Qaeda, which owes its allegiance to the Afghan Taliban, for trying to justify the Taliban's actions based on Salafi-jihadi principles despite not subscribing to them.[7]

Similarly, pro-ISIS Telegram channel Bayda' Al-Muwahhideen slammed Al-Qaeda supporters who object to the Taliban's ingratiation to the Iranians without realizing that the Afghan Taliban have formally appointed an official in charge of relations with Iran.[8]