|
 "When hundreds of foreigners, both men and women, leave their
comfortable lives and embrace Daish, then why not us?" he asked,
using a word for Islamic State (IS) common in the region.
Although IS is not believed to have operations in Afghanistan, its
influence is growing in a country already mired in daily bombings
and attacks by Taliban insurgents.
With most foreign combat troops leaving the country by the end of
the year, there is growing uncertainty over what direction
Afghanistan will take, with the emergence of IS ideology adding a
new risk.
A few dozen students have set up an underground group a few months
after IS started making inroads into Central and South Asia this
year. Some have already traveled to Syria.
Several hardline insurgent groups in tribal areas between
Afghanistan and Pakistan have pledged allegiance to IS, propaganda
leaflets have been distributed and some local commanders are said to
have met IS members.
But the clandestine student group is the clearest indication yet
that IS ideas are taking hold more broadly.
"Several students who are close to us went to Syria to join our
brothers for a holy cause," said student Gul Rahman, holding a
mobile phone with IS's black flag logo on the screen.
Islamic State is a violent Sunni group which controls large areas of
Iraq and Syria. It announced the establishment of a caliphate in
June.
IS also declared an intention to bring Afghanistan, Pakistan and
India under its control, although so far only eight Afghan citizens
have traveled from Afghanistan to fight in Syria, security sources
told Reuters. Among them are two sisters from Kabul University
recruited to IS over Facebook and now in Syria.
The number is tiny compared with the thousands of recruits from
Europe fighting with IS, with its influence in South Asia still
embryonic.
TALIBAN COMPROMISED?
The students, speaking at a tea-shop away from campus and fearing
arrest if they are identified, said they drew inspiration from IS's
success in the Middle East and saw it as the best chance of bringing
Asia under Islamist rule.
They were willing to give their names because they were so common
the authorities could not identify them, they added.
Kabul University has long been a cauldron of radical views - both
under Soviet occupation when students sided with rebels and later
when the hardline Taliban took control in the 1990s.
Now IS ideology appears to be spreading, although there is no
evidence yet the trend goes beyond gatherings where students discuss
ideas and graffiti daubed on university walls. None of the men who
met Reuters were armed, nor appeared bent on attacks within
Afghanistan.
Rahim and Rahman said they want to fight in Syria and Iraq because
IS does not yet have enough presence in Afghanistan to challenge
national and foreign armed forces.
They have also abandoned support for the Taliban, saying it strayed
from religious doctrine in the pursuit of power.
[to top of second column]
|
"The Taliban are more of a political movement but Daish (IS) is
purely Islamic," said Rahim, sporting a bushy beard and shaved
moustaches.
They said the Taliban had little chance of regaining power and was
more closely aligned with Pakistan's national interests than their
religious ideals. Despite its radical associations, Kabul
University's leafy campus is a place where male and female students
mingle, along with conservative scholars of religion. President
Ashraf Ghani was a former dean.
"TIME BOMB"
The Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security
(NDS), denied the existence of "systematic and organized networks"
among Kabul students, but admitted IS was trying to build support.
"Anyone related to this group will be apprehended," said Hasib
Sediqqi, a spokesman for NDS.
Afghan officials are concerned that IS, a fiercely anti-Shia group,
could incite sectarian violence which has been largely avoided in
recent years.
Rahim is from Kunar, a mountainous province in east Afghanistan that
shares a porous border with Pakistan's tribal areas, which serve as
a base for Taliban and al Qaeda.
He said several dozen students backed IS. Afghan authorities put the
number of student supporters between 40 and 50.
The students use grisly posts on Facebook to recruit in major cities
that have internet, and their pages have hundreds of followers.
Security officials say 14 students with ties to IS have been
arrested, including a woman who ran a Facebook page.
Some professors voiced concern at radicalism on campus, where a
strong anti-Western strain is prevalent among students, most of them
from rural areas that have borne the brunt of the U.S.-led war.
"They radicalize other students, they are against co-education and
incite others against foreigners and the Afghan government," said
one professor, who asked not to be named.
"If we do not take care of this time bomb, it will cause damage
beyond our control."
(Editing by Frank Jack Daniel, Maria Golovnina and Mike
Collett-White)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
