In recent months, Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban jihadi organization that seized power on August 15, 2021), and acting defense minister Maulvi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, son of late Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, have issued statements revealing the Taliban's jihadi ideology and threatening the West.

Zabihullah Mujahid, who was spokesman for the Islamic Emirate during the years when the organization was underground and waging jihad against the U.S. and NATO forces, is also deputy minister for information and culture in the Taliban government, which has yet to be recognized by the international community.

In the first week of January 2022, Zabihullah Mujahid gave an interview to "Azadi Radio" – a Pashtu-language radio station – in which he declared that the Taliban suicide bombers would be part of the Afghan Army.[1] Jihadi groups use the Arabic word "Ishtishhadi" or "Fidayeen" for martyrdom-seeking suicide bombers.

Zabihullah Mujahid declared: "Our mujahideen in the Ishtishhadi Kandaks [martyrdom-seeking battalions] will be part of the army and [they] will be Special Forces and organized under the defense ministry. The Special Forces will be established in a specific number and used for special operations."[2]

Office of the Ishtishhadi Kandaks (i.e., "martyrdom-seeking battalion")

In December 2021, it also emerged that the Islamic Emirate told the United States during talks in Doha that if the U.S. insisted on deploying 2,000 American troops at its embassy in Kabul, the Taliban would also deploy as part of any bilateral arrangement 2,000 "fidayeen mujahideen [i.e., suicide bombers]" at the Afghan Embassy in Washington D.C.

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Islamic Emirate

On December 11, 2021, Maulvi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, son of the late Afghan Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahid and now the acting defense minister of Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, tweeted: "If America wants 2,000 English [i.e., American] troops at its embassy in Afghanistan, we also want 2,000 Fidayeen Mujahideen [i.e., suicide bombers] from the Fateh Force at the embassy of Afghanistan in America."[3]

Earlier in July 2021, Zabihullah Mujahid declared in an interview with Afghan media outlet ToloNews that the Taliban were not obligated under the Doha agreement of 2020 to sever ties with Al-Qaeda as such groups are part of the Islamic faith.

The Taliban spokesman said: "[The pact] has not mentioned anything about relations [between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda]. The relation between Muslims in the world is in faith. This is not logical at all [to cut ties with Al-Qaeda]. The issue was also mentioned in our negotiations. We explained this to the Americans..."[4]

Clip below to view a clip on MEMRI TV of Taliban spokesman and Deputy Minister for Information and Culture Zabihullah Mujahid's recent statement on the inclusion of suicide bombers into the Afghan military.