In the audio message attributed to Hibatullah Akhundzada, which he allegedly gave at the meeting of clerics, the leader of the Taliban emphasizes that their battle is not over and the group will continue the war against the infidels beyond the borders of Afghanistan.
The leader of the Taliban recites a phrase from a hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud: To the effect that there has been no reconciliation since the day their war began. Some people think that these words have a propaganda aspect and are meant to scare the Americans and blackmail them in Doha, with the idea that the policy of coercion against the United States will give better results and that the Taliban mullahs/clerics have decided to follow the way of the Iranian clerics in order to gain more favor on negotiation and talks tables..
However, if we examine the issue from the point of view of discourse analysis, we will see that in political discourses, the two levels of tactics and strategy are different from each other, and by knowing these two levels and separating them from each other, we can better understand the aims and objectives of a politically established movement. The Taliban, like other religious fundamentalists, neither believe in the nation-state category, nor in the borders that are considered the national geography of a country. These groups consider themselves a part of a bigger group called Ummah and believe that the current borders of Islamic countries have been drawn by colonialism and should be removed one day. They consider each of today’s Islamic countries as one of the states of their larger country, and there should be only one Caliph or Commander of the Faithful as the leading head of all of them, so that a new phase of conquests can begin under his leadership.
On the other hand, these groups realistically know that there is still a long way to the full realization of this idea and concept, and for this purpose, the majority of them, with the exception of ISIS and Hizb-e al-Tahrir, prefer to keep it hidden at this stage rather than anger and do not provoke the reaction of others, without abandoning the big goal. They need strategic and regular plans to realize their long-term goals, and this is a strategic goal that connects various groups, from the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and Hizb-e al-Tahrir to the fundamentalist officers of Pakistan’s intelligence, and turns them into an effective and strong allies. to distribute tasks among themselves without attracting attention.
The words of Amir al-Momineen of the Taliban were a meaningful reference to this goal, and his audience was comprised of extremist forces all over the world. He knew that his fans from the east to the west of the world were paying attention to his every word and instead of looking at the issue from an eco-political point of view like analysts in western think tanks. They listened from the point of view of faith and firm belief and took inspiration from that for their jihad. He is now more important than Osama Bin Laden and Abu Bakr Baghdadi, because he has the complete territory of a country with all government facilities and at the same time, he is being interacted and negotiated with by powers at the level of Russia, China and America. This is the first time in modern history that the leader of a terrorist group is in such a unique position. In his speech, he sent the message to all his allied organizations that his peace is tactical, but his battle is strategic…and so on.