KABUL - The head of Badghis' Ulema Council, Mawlawi Ibrahim, on Sunday said the council has issued a fatwa against the Taliban's war on security forces, but that the insurgent leaders have rejected it.

He said the foreign leaders of the Taliban have refused to renounce violence.

Mawlawi Ibrahim said that the local Taliban has sent the text of the fatwa to their leadership in Quetta Shura in Pakistan – the main council comprised of the top leadership of the Afghan Taliban.

He said that the Quetta Shura members have warned the Taliban leadership in Badghis that they will be eliminated if they adhere to the fatwa.

Mawlawi Ibrahim said the religious scholars issued the fatwa based on instructions in the Holy Quran and messages of the Prophet, but the Quetta Shura members are preventing the Afghan Taliban from joining the peace process.

"They [the Taliban rebels] are not taking any steps without orders from the foreigners [those in Quetta Shura]; even they took our fatwa to Quetta Shura in Peshawar and they ordered the Taliban in Badghis not to renounce violence," Ibrahim told TOLOnews.

"Their madrassas in Pakistan are not for training on religious books; the madrassas are for training suicide attackers and for subversive activities," he said.

The Afghan army commander in the western zone, Gen. Taj Mohammad Mujahid, of the 207 Army Corps, meanwhile said that many foreign insurgents from Pakistani madrassas have infiltrated into Badghis and Faryab, and that they are trying to destabilize the provinces.

"As per our information, there are a number of foreign rebels in parts of Badghis and Faryab provinces," he said.

Badghis police chief, Gen. Wali Jan Sarhadi, said they would however take serious steps to stamp out insurgency.

He said: "There are militants. Foreigners might also be among them. Anyone who stands against the Afghan Constitution we will stand against them." (Tolonews)