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Supporters of the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda have released the latest issue of Nawa-i-Afghan Jihad ("the Voice of Afghan Jihad"), an Urdu-language monthly magazine aimed at these groups' followers in Pakistan. A PDF version of the May 2019 issue of the magazine was posted on U.S.-based website Archive.org and other social media platforms.
The coverpage of Nawa-i-Afghan Jihad.
The issue includes a series of articles paying tribute to late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a U.S. raid on May 2, 2011, in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Several articles in the issue discuss the religious significance of Ramadan, the fasting month of the Islamic calendar. Two articles are devoted to the importance of the Battle of Badr, which took place in March 624 CE, coinciding with Ramadan that year, and was the first major battle involving a Muslim army.
These articles are mostly translations of Arabic articles into Urdu. Nawa-i-Afghan Jihad also has translations of articles by Al-Qaeda leader Sheikh Ayman Al-Zawahiri and late Al-Qaeda commander Sheikh Abu Yahya Al-Libi. At least two articles critique the policy of secularism by governments in South Asia, while two others argue that Pakistan's future lies in the enforcement of shari'a.
The 119-page magazine has reports from the battlefronts in Afghanistan, including a detailed a list of all armed clashes between the Taliban and the Afghan government forces that took place in April 2019.
In an unsigned editorial mainly devoted to the significance of Ramadan, the editors also observe: "Today the Crusader chief America is restless to withdraw its troops who are being defeated in Afghanistan."
The contents page of Nawa-i-Afghan Jihad.
Sources: Archive.org, accessed May 16, 2019.
