Afghanistan: Now, the Taliban to add suicide bombers to their army
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Days after uprooting the barbed wire fencing its erstwhile ‘mentor’ Pakistan tried to put up in a bid to stop infiltration of Afghans from across the Durand Line, the Taliban has decided to officially recruit suicide bombers in its army as its rival Islamic State terror group is trying to pose a security threat.
Before they swept into power in August 2021, the Taliban used suicide bombers to attack and defeat US and Afghan troops in the 20-year War on Terror. But now that it is in power, unrecognized by any country including Pakistan, the terror group is trying to reorganize the scattered squads of suicide bombers across the mountainous country under the umbrella of the army to protect Afghanistan, Taliban’s deputy spokesperson Bilal Karimi said, according to the media reports on Thursday.
Apart from the Pakistani Army, the Taliban’s primary target could also be the local offshoot of the Islamic State, which has carried out at least five major attacks after the Taliban tried to consolidate power. Suicide bombers carried out several of those attacks.
“The special forces, that include martyrdom-seekers, will be used for more sophisticated and special operations,” Karimi was quoted as saying.
The Taliban is building a “strong and organized army to bolster defense” across Afghanistan and along the borders, with the suicide bombers becoming an integral part of the strategy, he added.
Nearly 150,000 Islamist fighters will be invited to join the Taliban army, the media had reported in November, citing the terror outfit’s chief of staff Qari Fasihuddin.
The suicide bombers’ recruitment drive came after the Taliban purged the military ranks to stop those hunting down their opponents, its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said.
The terror outfit also said it had begun to identify and capture possible Islamic State infiltrators within their own ranks.
