KUALA LUMPUR – Reports alleging the Taliban have captured two Malaysian terrorist fighters during an intense gunfight in West Kabul last Thursday have led to questions of how the duo were possibly involved in the first place.
Attempts to determine the number of Malaysians currently operating as militants in Afghanistan are tough as many enter the region under guises of work, study, and humanitarian work, as well as through marriage or familial ties.
But this is a national security issue for Malaysia, even if the fighters were operating elsewhere, said Nordic Counter-Terrorism Network director Andrin Raj.
“Since September 11, Malaysia has since been mentioned in a United Nations Security Council report as a conduit for terrorism.
“With regard to a national security matter, yes, it is an issue for Malaysia to look back at its policies, especially on religious conflicts globally.”
He added that Malaysians operating in the Middle East is nothing new, given Malaysians’ involvement in Afghanistan since the mujahideen war against the Soviet Union some 40 years ago.
“Four Malaysian and eight Indonesian fighters left in the early 1980s under the orders of Abu Bakar Bashir while he was in Malaysia. They flew out of Malaysia on an Aeroflot flight via Moscow and to Peshawar in Pakistan.
“There were camps where Malaysian fighters were trained,” Andrin said, referring to Bashir, who is considered Indonesia’s most high-profile radical Muslim ulama and was previously linked to the 2002 Bali bombings.
Now that the Taliban has claimed Afghanistan, Andrin said Malaysia must be cautious when considering its diplomatic ties with the war-torn nation.
“The Taliban practises extremist and violent laws that are not in line with Islamic teachings. Malaysia must be cautious that any indication of Taliban influence in Malaysia’s political system will be devastating to a multicultural and religious nation.”
Last Saturday, British newspaper The Times reported that the Taliban had detained six fighters operating for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Khorasan (Isis-K) after a gun battle in West Kabul on August 26.
After an intense gunfight in West Kabul on Thursday, Taliban militants captured six Islamic State (IS) operatives, two of whom are reportedly Malaysians.
According to a report by British publication The Times, the four other terrorists are Afghans. Together with the Malaysians, they fought for Isis-K, the report said.
Isis-K is understood to be an offshoot of IS that operates in South and Central Asia.
“Four are Afghans but it seems the other two are Malaysian,” Taliban criminal investigation department chief Saifullah Mohammed was quoted as telling The Times.
The report mentioned that the men had surrendered after a clash that occurred merely a few hours after a widely reported and deadly suicide attack at Kabul International Airport.
According to the report, the gunfight is understood to have occurred after Taliban militants were alerted to reports of Isis-K gunmen shooting into people’s homes in Kabul.
Malaysian police have since submitted applications to foreign security agencies to investigate claims regarding the two Malaysians.
Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani had said that the Malaysian authorities have had no information regarding the involvement of any Malaysians in the militant group in Afghanistan.
In 2014, The Star reported that at least 40 Malaysians had been involved in the war in Syria, including former Internal Security Act detainee Mohd Lotfi Ariffin.
Lotfi had weapons training in Afghanistan in the early 1990s and was involved in two other conflicts in Tajikistan and Poso Sulawesi in Indonesia. – The Vibes, September 1, 2021
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