KUALA LUMPUR – The Nordic Counter-Terrorism Network (NCTN) has listed the Taliban as a radical and violent Islamist group.
NCTN director Andrin Raj told The Vibes that a system was used to identify groups considered violent and radical based on laws enacted by the European Union (EU).
“For one, we use the new EU laws for human rights and adopt them into our methods.
“We also use them to lobby authorities to ban the organisation, its individuals, and their family members from entering the EU, as stated under their laws,” Andrin told The Vibes.
NCTN runs the Counter Radicalisation Project (CRP) to address radicalisation within institutions that propagate “radical thought and ideological beliefs”.
The CRP bases its findings on Islamist radicalisation identified by methods developed by NCTN’s Islamic Religious Division, which comprises experts and scholars in Islamic thought.
“The CRP project will assess individuals, organisations including non-government organisations, governments, state religious organisations, academic institutions, politicians, political parties, state leaders, and any entities that fall under its identification system to identify the said entity as a radical entity,” a statement concerning the CRP on NCTN’s website reads.
Among the reasons behind NCTN’s decision to categorise the Taliban as a radical group is due to the fact that the organisation is seeking recognition as a legitimate government.
However, Andrin said, the Taliban still supports al-Qaeda and is allowing foreign terrorists to use Afghanistan as a safe haven.
He said the decision was also made considering the human rights abuses occurring at the hands of the Taliban.
Andrin said these include conducting public hangings without due process of law and forcing laws under the guise of religious autonomy, such as preventing women from going to school and recognising the right to use “jihad” when needed.
“These reports of torture and human rights violations were provided to the NCTN by a former national security official under former Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani’s administration,” he said.
On August 30, after the exit of United States military forces, the Taliban successfully took control of Afghanistan, renaming the nation the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan.
Currently, Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada serves as the head of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, while Mullah Hasan Akhund serves as prime minister. – The Vibes, October 3, 2021
