{"id":9605,"date":"2021-09-01T12:10:36","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T09:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/?p=9605"},"modified":"2021-09-02T12:14:08","modified_gmt":"2021-09-02T09:14:08","slug":"iran-backed-fatemiyoun-brigade-cautiously-avoiding-a-clash-with-the-taliban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/monitoring-and-translation\/reports\/iran-backed-fatemiyoun-brigade-cautiously-avoiding-a-clash-with-the-taliban\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran-Backed Fatemiyoun Brigade Cautiously Avoiding a Clash With the Taliban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When the Taliban took over Afghanistan\u2019s capital Kabul on August 15, the Iran-backed Afghan Shiite militia  known as the  Fatemiyoun<\/a> Brigade adopted a conciliatory tone welcoming the change, and called for holding inter-Afghan talks to ensure a peaceful transition of power, signaling that it was prepared to accept Taliban rule. The  militia\u2019s position was not surprising considering reports that Iran<\/a> may have aided the Taliban for years to expedite the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. By embracing the Taliban\u2019s rule now, Iran and the Fatemiyoun are playing their cards safe and buying time to calculate their next moves.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fatemiyoun says it will await  directives from Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>  concerning its next moves, but promises that the current  developments in Afghanistan will ultimately lead to a more beautiful world in which religious  and human values as well as dignity are nurtured and upheld. This ambiguous stance shows that the militia  and its Iranian backers will not relinquish attempts  to influence Afghanistan\u2019s next phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aforementioned indicates Tehran\u2019s desire to avoid provoking hostilities with the Taliban for now. Tehran has readily used the  group\u2019s preferred title for Afghanistan, i.e., the Islamic Emirate<\/a>, to show its willingness to work and accept it as a legitimate ruling actor.   While Afghan immigrants in Iran were chanting death to the Taliban in recent days, perhaps on Tehran\u2019s directive, they also called for a peace track with the group. <\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the moment  it is unclear what Iran and the Fatemiyoun hope to gain from peace talks with the Taliban. In December 2020, Iran\u2019s then Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif<\/a> stated that the Fatemiyoun could possibly help Afghanistan in its fight against terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Iran is also  wanting the Taliban to protect  Afghan Shiites.   To show good faith and a willingness to accommodate Tehran,  the Taliban dispatched representatives to take part in the Shiite-led  Ashura ceremonies<\/a> across Afghanistan including in Mazar-i-Sharif<\/a> and Herat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, hoping to encourage talks between Iran and  the Taliban, the Fatemiyoun did not partake in  the conflict that ensued between the Afghan government and the  group over the summer. Top Fatemiyoun commanders and officials refused to issue statements on social media<\/a>  condemning the Taliban. The Fatemiyoun\u2019s only virtual media outlet, which  issues its formal positions,  made it clear that its Afghan  fighters remained   deployed in Syria and Lebanon<\/a>, where they were fighting against ISIS,  and continued to defend  Syrian Shiite shrines<\/a> on Iran\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A month before the Taliban took over Kabul,  the Fatemiyoun even took the extra step of  issuing a statement<\/a> glorifying the developments  in Afghanistan and describing them as a turning point for the Muslim world.  The Fatemiyoun outlined several scenarios that could arise, including a civil war. Specifically, the militia  warned that the United States could launch a soft war after withdrawing from Afghanistan to divide the country along ethnic or religious lines and blame the unrest on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 However, Iran and the Fatemiyoun are walking on eggshells trying to appease the Taliban while trying to come  across as acceptable peace brokers  for Afghanistan. They might be united with the Taliban in their mutual desire to eject US forces permanently from Afghanistan, however, Taliban rule in the country is unlikely to play into Iranian hands.  Reports indicate that the Fatemiyoun may have approximately  20,000 fighters<\/a>. Although the Fatemiyoun firmly rejects war<\/a> as a solution  for Afghanistan\u2019s  complex problems, many Afghans see its conduct as immoral and illegal because it is fighting  on Iran\u2019s behalf in  other countries. Reports  have even  surfaced indicating that the militia  may have offered to defend Afghan government strongholds<\/a> in Herat, on the border with Iran, before the Taliban took over power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 28, the Fatemiyoun said it had no plans to fight<\/a> the Taliban, rejecting reports that it planned to fight the group and labeled these reports as propaganda circulated by the United States,  Israel and some Arab governments.  However,  the former head of Afghanistan\u2019s national security  Rahmatullah Nabil said<\/a> some 2,500 to 3,000 Fatemiyoun fighters had returned from Syria to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fatemiyoun\u2019s refusal to issue a clear  position on the Taliban is worrisome. The Fatemiyoun is seen as a terrorist outfit  inside Afghanistan. Advertisements in Afghanistan placed the flags<\/a> of the Fatemiyoun Brigade and ISIS side-by-side to demonstrate that both posed a threat to the country. Moreover, its  fighters who have returned to Afghanistan as the civil war in Syria has subsided  are seen by Afghans as having split loyalties<\/a> to Iran, and might attempt to  influence Afghanistan\u2019s future.  Even the former Afghan National Unity government<\/a>, which led Kabul before the Taliban\u2019s takeover,  generally supported any group fighting against ISIS   but it never endorsed the  Fatemiyoun\u2019s activities as this would have exacerbated internal tensions and divides between Shiites and Sunnis.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A concern for  the Taliban is that the Fatemiyoun is trained by Iran\u2019s  Quds Force and Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard  and could possibly destabilize Afghanistan along ethnic and religious lines when called on by Iran. Some experts believe, for example, that Iran and the Fatemiyoun were attempting to create a separate federal structure<\/a> in Herat that would be largely  Shiite dominated. The  Iran-backed militia  is also said to be well armed<\/a>  with tanks, munition,  anti-tank missiles, along with a mobilized force  that is capable of breaking enemy lines on the battlefield. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there has been close contact between Iran and the Taliban for years now,  Tehran is suspicious about the   Doha Accord between  Washington and the group which includes anti-terrorism clauses<\/a>. It remains to be seen how Iran will use the Fatemiyoun moving forward, raising suspicions over  its continued presence in Afghanistan.  Iran\u2019s strategy will likely evolve based on the Taliban\u2019s next steps toward  Afghan Shiites and the Fatemiyoun. For now, it is unlikely that the Fatemiyoun will pose a threat to the Taliban, but it is highly likely that it will continue to organize and mobilize  Shiites which  constitute about 10 percent of Afghanistan\u2019s population, and use  Afghan Hazaras<\/a> as leverage to ensure Iranian influence and interests are kept in place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Taliban took over Afghanistan\u2019s capital Kabul on August 15, the Iran-backed Afghan Shiite militia\u00a0 known as the \u00a0Fatemiyoun Brigade adopted a conciliatory tone welcoming the change, and called for holding inter-Afghan talks to ensure a peaceful transition of power, signaling that it was prepared to accept Taliban rule. The\u00a0 militia\u2019s position was not surprising considering reports that Iran may have aided the Taliban for years to expedite the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. By embracing the Taliban\u2019s rule now, Iran and the Fatemiyoun are playing their cards safe and buying time to calculate their next moves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2879,3011,12,634],"class_list":["post-9605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports","tag-fatemiyoun","tag-fatemiyoun-fighters","tag-iran","tag-taliban"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9605"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9622,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9605\/revisions\/9622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}