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Afghan Supreme Leader Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada on Wednesday issued a fatwa clarifying that anyone who travels from Afghanistan to Pakistan to participate in militancy will not be serving jihad, adding they will not be considered a martyr if they are killed.
In his statement, Akhundzada emphasized that no Afghan citizen or member of the Afghan government would cross the Pak-Afghan border to engage in militancy. If anyone does travel to Pakistan for terrorism, he warned, their deaths would be considered “haram” and they would not be regarded as martyrs. Similarly, reads the fatwa, no representative of the interim Afghanistan government would attend the funeral of anyone who dies while engaging in militancy in Pakistan.
The supreme leader’s statement further noted that anyone who violated its instructions would no longer be considered part of Afghanistan’s interim government.
The fatwa follows a reported demand from Pakistan that Afghanistan make public the fatwa so militants of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its supporters could be prevented from deteriorating relations between the neighboring nations. According to Voice of America, the Taliban had earlier circulated the fatwa among members of the interim Afghanistan government but had not made it public.
Amidst a resurgence of terrorism across Pakistan, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, both civil and military leaders have slammed Kabul for failing to prevent cross-border militancy. Speaking with media last week, former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari warned that Islamabad, as a last resort, could target militant positions in Afghanistan if the interim government does not act of its own accord. Similarly, both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Gen. Asim Munir have criticized the freedom of movement available to terrorists in Afghanistan and called on Kabul to ensure its soil is not used to stage attacks inside Pakistani territory.