The Taliban leadership has sent a letter to the Islamic State’s leader in Iraq/Syria, warning not to attempt to open a new jihadi front in Afghanistan. In the letter, it is said that there is only room for “one flag and one leadership” for jihad efforts in Afghanistan. According to a Taliban spokesman, the letter is sent by Akhtar Muhammad Mansoor, a senior Taliban leader and member of the Quetta Shura, who is called as the head of the Shura in the letter. The Taliban has warned the Islamic State that if it attempts to open a front of jihadi activities in Afghanistan, it may result to a response from the Taliban. The Taliban leadership has stated in the letter that activities of various jihadi groups “would not be in interests of Jihad and neither the Muslims”. The tone of the letter is cautious and respectful, and the Jihadi group which is controlling large swathes of Iraq and Syria is called as “mujahedin”.

The letter from Taliban’s Quetta Shura to the Islamic State is coming after reports of intense clashes between the Taliban and militants loyal to the Islamic State in some eastern and southern provinces of Afghanistan. According to the reports, hundreds of families are displaced as result of clashes between the Taliban and the Islamic State in eastern province of Nangarhar. The Islamic State has been recruiting in Afghanistan, and some disgruntled members of the Taliban have joined the group. The Islamic State in Afghanistan is mainly made up of the breakaway Taliban members who have switched their allegiance to the Islamic State leader Abubakr Al-Baghdadi. In the letter, the Taliban has tacitly warned the Islamic State not to recruit members of the Taliban who are disgruntled for any reasons or members shunned by the Taliban.

The letter is indicating that power struggle by means of military confrontation between the two jihadi groups is already triggered. In the letter, it is said that the Taliban will be forced to defend its achievements if the Islamic State makes decisions for jihad in Afghanistan. Confirmed reports suggest there have been increasing clashes between forces loyal to the Islamic State and the Taliban leaving dozens dead from both sides. A former Taliban commander who has switched allegiance to the Islamic State has warned the Taliban the will defend itself against any Taliban attack and stage war against the group. Despite the soft tone of the letter, the matters raised in the letter are fundamental and existential issues for both sides and the two militant groups do not seem to be able to resolve these fundamental matters peacefully.  The Taliban sees itself legitimate group carrying out jihadi activities against American presence in Afghanistan as well as the Western-backed government in Kabul. However, the Islamic State, seeking to foothold in Afghanistan, is pursuing a larger agenda for Afghanistan and beyond including Pakistan, Iran, the Central Asia, Russian and Chines Muslim-inhabited territories and the Caucasus. The region is called as ‘Khorasan province’ for the Islamic State operating in Iraq and Syria. The Islamic State sees Afghanistan as a strategic area for promoting its jihadi activities in their so-called ‘Khorasan province’. Afghanistan, as a conflict-ridden country, provides a conducive area for the Islamic State to recruit, train and equip their fighters for not only taking grounds in Afghanistan but also for backing their jihadi branches in the Central Asia and elsewhere in the region.

Therefore, given that the Islamic State operating in the Middle East sees Afghanistan as a strategic location for advancing their global agenda, seeking a foothold in Afghanistan is some sort of existential matter for the group in their efforts to advance their global jihad in the region. On the other hand, the Taliban has followers not only in Afghanistan, but also beyond the birth country of the group. Some other groups operating in Pakistan and elsewhere are loyal to the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, who has the title of Amir-ul Momineen, or the commander of the faithful. From Taliban perspective of jihad in the Muslim world, Mullah Muhammad Omar is the only legitimate leader of the Muslims in the world. This is, in fact, the ground for fundamental discordance between the Taliban and the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s spring offensive this year against the Afghan Government was also a show of muscles to the emerging Islamic State in Afghanistan. Usually, the seasonal fighting in Spring and Summer seasons is a routine fighting for the Taliban against the Afghan government and the international coalition that was fighting the Taliban before 2014. Prior to the launch of the spring offensive this year, there was uproar over Islamic State’s emergence in Afghanistan. However, the talks on Islamic State’s presence in Afghanistan dwindled with the launch of the Taliban’s spring offensive across the country. Perhaps, the Taliban hoped the spring offensive would also reaffirm that it still has a firm grip on jihadi activities in Afghanistan. However, with the creeping emergence of the Islamic State and its recruitments in Taliban-held areas, it has become evident for the Taliban that the Islamic State is going to emerge as a rival jihadi group in Afghanistan.

The letter from the Taliban leadership in Quetta to Islamic State is suggesting confusion among the Taliban on how to deal with the newly emerging threat to the long-established militant group in Afghanistan. The Taliban have mostly avoided a full-scale confrontation with the Islamic State and its own breakaway factions joining the Syrian-born group. However, now it is finding itself in an inevitable position in dealing with the threat of the rival Islamic State. The recent clashes could be the harbinger of a large-scale confrontation between the Taliban and the Islamic State. As indicated in the letter, it is expected that the Taliban take military actions against the Islamic State in a foreseeable time in the future. The rising Islamic State and the likely confrontations between the two militant groups would further complicate the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.