ISLAMABAD - On the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Tehrik-e-Taliban Jamaat ul Ahrar, a newly formed militant outfit, on Thursday vowed to continue the mission of slain al-Qaeda Chief Osama Bin Ladin until the establishment of the International Islamic Caliphate.
Al-Qaeda is facing the charges of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001 that had resulted in the killing of almost 3,000 people. As a result, the US-led NATO forces launched a 'war on terror' and toppled the Mullah Omar-led Taliban regime in Kabul.
According to Ihsanullah Ihsan, the spokesperson of JuA, the attacks of "the Magnificent 19" on September 11, 2001, caused the fall of the United States Empire. "Since that day, USA is desperately fighting to reclaim its reputation as the sole world power but the situation is getting worse for Americans with every passing day," he said in a statement. He added, "In 13 years, the US has achieved nothing other than humiliation, loss of soldiers and collapse of its economy".
The spokesperson of JuA thinks that it was an unwise decision to launch the 'war on terror' as before 9/11 only Afghanistan was the center of Islamic jihadists but the war caused the spread of militants all around the world. "Now the jihad has spread to a vast swathe of land including Pakistan, Chechnya, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Algeria, Mali and Nigeria".
After searching for almost 10 years, finally Osama Bin Ladin was traced and killed by US marines during a raid on May 2, 2011 in Abbottabad. But his killing has not affected the activities of militants in the Pak-Afghan region. Militants, especially in Pakistan and Afghanistan, term Osama as their hero who laid the foundation of the international jihad organization and they vow to take ahead his mission. "We in Tehrik-e-Taliban Jamaat ul Ahrar pledge that we shall continue the mission of our great martyrs until the Khilafat is established in every nook and corner of the world," vows Ihsanullah Ihsan.
Earlier this month on September 03, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri had launched a new branch of the outfit in the Indian-subcontinent to "reinvigorate" and "expand" its struggle in the region. On the occasion of the launch of this new franchise, the al-Qaeda chief also pleged "renewed loyalty" to Mullah Omar, the supreme leader of the Afghan Taliban. Not only Zawahiri but also his predecessor Osama Bin Ladin had repeatedly pledged allegiance to Mullah Omar that not only helped them to get a safe haven for al-Qaeda followers in Afghanistan but also won recognition as an international jihad organisation in the eyes of local militants.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has emerged in Arab countries which is quickly replacing Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria and is branching out to neighboring states but the group has not so far been able to make an impression in the sub-continent. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the chief of ISIS, has declared himself the Caliph of the Islamic Caliphate while militants here consider Mullah Omar as Ameer ul Mu'mineen----this is the main reason that ISIS has not been so far welcomed in the sub-continent.
ISIS has also started distributing pamphlets containing its manifesto in Peshawar and the tribal belt of Pakistan but it could not attract the local militants. JuH, Maulana Fazlullah, the head of TTP, Commander Sajna, the Ameer of the Mehsud Taliban, the Mullah Nazir group and the Punjabi Taliban have all sworn allegiance to Mullah Omar.