In a gathering of clerics in Kabul, hundreds of Afghan clerics and members of the Ulema Council condemned the ongoing war in the country and declared their backing to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). The mullahs announced their support to a religious sanction issued by the Saudi Arabian Mecca preacher against the Islamic State group and other militant groups who kill innocent people. The clerics also backed the government’s call on the people to support and stand alongside the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in the fight against militant groups. The clerics also called on the Afghan government to seek peace with the Taliban rather than war. The announcement of Afghan clerics’ and the Council of Ulema’s stance on the ongoing insurgency across the country is coming at a time that there are many military offensives going on in various provinces as the militants have resumed their deadly spring offensive.

The religious scholars’ robust denouncement of the increasing violence in the country is markedly unprecedented. The Afghanistan Ulema Council and the religious clerics have been criticized in past for not condemning the insurgency and the Taliban and other militant groups’ violence under the name of Islam. The government of Afghanistan has been trying for a long time to discredit the Taliban and the groups’ campaign of violence as un-Islamic by seeking religious sanctions from the clerics and religious figures. In a hope to help dissuade the Taliban’s mainstream from waging the deadly war against the government, the government has facilitated in the past a number of high-profile gatherings of clerics from the Muslim world. However, the efforts yielded little results as the Ulema Council and the Afghan clerics remained reluctant in taking a clear position in condemning the Taliban.

Recently, President Ashraf Ghani suggested an extensive Jihad against the militant groups. The declaration is now an opportunity for the government to seize and build on to fight the Taliban’s ideology and religious legitimacy. In Afghanistan, the religious figures have considerable influence among the public particularly in rural areas where the Taliban attract their recruits the most. If the government of Afghanistan and the government-backed Council of religious scholars manage to promote a more effective anti-Taliban campaign targeting the group’s legitimacy, the mainstream supporters of the Taliban will start shrinking and the Taliban will gradually lose their legitimacy. So far, the initiative to promote an anti-Taliban legitimacy campaign through religious scholars has been passive and reactive to the day-to-day incidents of violence by the militant groups.

Fearing to give a saying for the more conservative segment of the society, the government has so far avoided considering a serious role for the religious clerics and the Council of Ulema in the efforts for delegitimizing the Taliban ideology as well as for making peace with the Taliban. Despite asking the religious figures and clerics for many times to suggest a solution for the ongoing crisis in the country, the government has abstained from bringing the Ulema to the center stage for talks with the Taliban and de-legitimization of the militants-waged violence. After Friday prayers in Kabul, a top cleric criticized the High Peace Council (HPC) and called on the government to bring clerics who are not affiliated to the government into the peace initiative led by, emphasizing that the Ulema can bring peace in the country.

The condemnation from the Ulema Council is coming while the Taliban are waging a deadly spring war in many provinces as the ANSF are fighting to push the resurgent insurgency back. The government has urged the people to stand by the ANSF and support the ongoing operations across the country. the announced support from the Ulema members is a promising move that, if continued, would help public image of the army and police. In recent days, the ANSF operations have been underway in Helmand, Ghazni, Badakhshan, Zabul, Kunduz and Baghlan provinces. The ANSF needs public support including from religious circles and the more conservative parts of the society to battle the hard-line Taliban and other militants.

This year, military response from Afghanistan’s security agencies to the Taliban spring offensive came late as the militants had been wrecking havoc in a number of northern provinces. Lack of leadership from the ministry of defense was also a major factor for the late robust response to the Taliban spring offensive. The National Unity Government has been unable to introduce a nominee for the top security ministry. Many believe that this had considerable impacts on the lack of leadership and decisive response from the ministry. However, the security agencies finally came to the point to launch a decisive operation across the country to counter the violent campaign of the Taliban. In order to prevent the Taliban of making gains on the ground and depriving them of taking any political advantage from territory gains, the military needs to decisively respond the militants on the field.

Public support and political support from the government and all political leaders is crucial for the military offensive against the Taliban. The government has taken the right path in encouraging public support for the Afghan police and army in the ongoing fierce battle across the country. The government should take more cohesive approach and pursue an extensive plan for galvanizing the public in support of the ANSF fighting on the ground. For this, backing of the religious entities including the Ulema council is very crucial. Enhancing public support for the ANSF security operations will remarkably boost morale of the army and police forces fighting in the battlefield and protecting the villages and cities.

To counter the insurgency, the government needs to integrate the peace diplomacy with enhanced public support for the ANSF. It is highly likely for the peace initiative to doom to failure if the government fails to gain backing of the public as well as the Ulema society for the anti-insurgency campaign. The peace process diplomacy would work much better if it is integrated with extensive anti-insurgency military campaign and a strategy for winning the hearts and minds of the public and the anti-Taliban religious scholar’s society.