I accidentally ran across this video during a search this morning. The video is of a meeting between Mustafa Abu Yazid, al Qaeda’s leader in Afghanistan, and Mullah Mansour Dadullah, the brother of Mullah Dadullah Lang, the former military commander of the Afghan Taliban, who was killed by British special forces in May 2007. Mansour Dadullah was appointed as the Taliban’s military commander in the south after his brother was killed.
The short clip, from As Sahab, al Qaeda’s media outlet, perfectly drives home the point Tom Joscelyn and I made in “Al Qaeda is the tip of the jihadist spear”, that the Taliban and al Qaeda are closely linked and efforts to bribe the Taliban out of the relationship will fail.
Below is the text of Dadullah and Yazid’s statements in the video, which is subtitled in English. Emphasis is mine.
Dadullah: The raids on New York and Washington had a major effect in cementing the ties of the Iman-based brotherhood between al Qaeda and their brothers the Taliban, both commanders and soldiers.
Yazid: By the grace of Allah, the strong ties between the brothers who have emigrated from all over the world have become stronger. The ties between the brothers in al Qaeda and brothers in the Taliban have increased. The affection between them has increased. The Iman-based brotherhood has increased by the grace of Allah, the Most High. And these are some of the effects of this brotherhood.
Mullah Baradar, the deputy of Amir al Mumineen [the commander of the faithful, Mullah Mohammed Omar], has said, “The jihad in Afghanistan is the duty of every Muslim, because the Crusaders didn’t gang up against the Taliban merely because they’re Afghans: no, they ganged up against them because of their Islam and their faith.”
He also said, “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will continue to be a trench for every Mujahid, and a refuge for the world’s Muslims.” May Allah reward him and help him and give victory to him.
We mention here the stance taken by Amir al Mumineen, Mullah Mohammed Omar, the stance of men, the stance of champions, and the stance of lions.
He stood like a towering mountain in the face of the enemies, in the face of all challenges.
He refuse to back down, and refused to bargain over the believers [al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the rest of the group]. He took the stance of heroism, courage, dignity and defiance. He stood against the whole world, which was telling him: “either you hand over Osama and those with him, or all of your power and authority will disappear.”
Yet he [Omar] insisted on making supreme the meaning of Iman, the loyalty to the believers and strength against the unbelievers. So may Allah reward him in the best way.
And here, we emphasize our Bayah [oath of allegiance] and obedience to Amir al Mumineen, Mullah Mohammed Omar, and we affirm that Qaeda al Jihad Afghanistan is no more than one of the brigades of Amir al Mumineen and the Islamic Emirate and the soldiers of al Qaeda are no more than loyal soldiers of Amir al Mumineen and the Islamic Emirate.
As an aside, in the video you can clearly see Yazid’s Shadow Army bodyguard, in uniform.
Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
1 Comment
Hi,
Just to correct that is not Mullah Dadullah Akhund, it is his younger brother Mansour Dadullah Akhund, who is still alive and in captivity of the Pakistani forces.