Haji Najibullah: A Brief Glimpse of the Leader of Afghan Taliban Splinter Group Feda’i Mahaz

Haji Najibullah: A Brief Glimpse of the Leader of Afghan Taliban Splinter Group Feda’i Mahaz

A clandestine Taliban splinter group claimed the killing of British-Swedish journalist Nils Horner in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul in March. With this act, Islami Tehrik Fedai Mahaz, led by Haji Najibullah, achieved the international notoriety that the group with its media propaganda has been working toward.

Background

Najibullah, whose nom de guerre is Umar Khatab, is from the Zabul Province of Afghanistan. He was born in 1979 and began his jihadist career at the age of 15 alongside Mullah Muhammad Omar when the latter founded the Taliban in 1994. Najibullah’s advancement in the Taliban was at a stunning pace. In 2001, he was appointed as a sub-commander in northern Afghanistan (Pravda, August 12, 2001).

Owing to his ability to launch brazen attacks and expertise in escaping from the clutches of American and the Afghan forces, Haji Najibullah rose to become one of the top Taliban figures under senior commander Mullah Dadullah. Najibullah has said he joined Dadullah’s forces because he found him to be “the bravest and most charismatic commander” (Newsweek, August 30, 2013). Dadullah, who operated a group named Mullah Dadullah Feda’i Front, appointed Najibullah as the commander of hundreds of suicide bombers. When Dadullah was killed during an operation by foreign forces in Helmand in May 2007, Najibullah took the helm of his former commander’s forces (Afghanistan Analysts Network [Kabul], May 22, 2012).

Najibullah was caught by the United States and allied forces at least three times, only to escape from jail by bribing officials. He was first jailed in 1997, followed by eight months in prison in 2004. He was arrested again in 2006, but managed to flee by paying $25,000 to Afghan judges and intelligence officers (Newsweek, August 30, 2013).

Scuttling Peace Talks

After breaking away from the Taliban, Najibullah formed the Islami Tehrik Feda’i Mahaz (Suicide Group of the Islamic Movement of Afghanistan) or Feda’i Mahaz, which translates as “Suicide Brigade.” Headquartered in Kandahar Province, the Taliban offshoot has forces operating in five strategic provinces around Kabul. Najibullah parted ways with the Taliban after the parent group agreed to set up a political office in Doha to help initiate peace talks with the U.S. and Afghan governments (The Friday Times [Lahore], January, 24; The News [Islamabad], October 21, 2013). [1] Commenting on the talks, Najibullah said, “The Taliban wanted to lose at the table what we have won with our blood on the battlefield.” The group has also blacklisted the Taliban negotiators who set up the Doha office, including Tayib Agha, Shahabuddin Delawar and Sohail Shahin (Afghanistan Analysts Network, March 19, 2014).

Najibullah’s outfit published a 26-point policy statement on its website calling for war against atrocities committed by infidels in and out of Afghanistan. He also published a pocket-size, 36-page book in mid-2013, in which he argued that the CIA was orchestrating a conspiracy against the Muslim world. Najibullah claims that more Taliban fighters and other Afghans, upset over the peace process with the United States, are joining his Feda’i Mahaz in large numbers (Newsweek, August 30, 2013).

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid has said he was not aware of such a faction. “We don’t know them, and we don’t know if they have a physical existence,” he said (New York Times, March 12).

Targeting Journalists

In a bid to grab media attention, Feda’i Mahaz has been targeting foreign journalists, claiming that they are spies working for the United States and its allies.

On March 11, Nils Horner, a Hong Kong-based journalist working for Sveriges Radio, Sweden’s national broadcaster, was shot and killed in Kabul. The next day, Feda’i Mahaz announced that it had killed Horner because he was a spy for Britain’s MI6 and not a journalist (Guardian, March 12; The Afghanistan Express [Kabul], March 18). According to Afghanistan Analysts Network, the group was attempting to cash in on the publicity surrounding the high-profile attack on Horner.

Feda’i Mahaz also claimed responsibility for the killing of Indian Afghan writer and filmmaker Sushmita Banerjee in October 2013, as they believed she was “an Indian spy” (The Times of India [Mumbai], September 13, 2013).

Najibullah’s fighters were also involved in the kidnapping of New York Times reporter David Rohde in Afghanistan on November 10, 2008. Rohde, who managed to escape after eight months of captivity, was abducted by Najibullah while he was travelling to Logar Province to meet a Taliban commander (New York Times, June 20, 2013).

Apart from these attacks, Feda’i Mahaz carried out a failed suicide attack against former Afghan president Sibghatulla Mojaddedi in 2006. The group has also claimed attacks on U.S. envoys in Kabul and outposts in Wardak Province (Newsweek, August 30, 2013). On October 15 last year, the group assassinated the governor of Logar Province, Arsala Jamal, while he was delivering a speech to mark the Eid al-Adha Islamic holiday (The News [Islamabad], October 21, 2013; RFE/RL, October 17, 2013).

Conclusion

After military engagement of over a decade in Afghanistan, the U.S. and NATO forces are preparing to withdraw their presence in the militancy-plagued country. Amid all efforts to broker a peace deal with the Taliban, frequent attacks by splinter groups like Feda’i Mahaz indicate radical insurgent groups are actively seeking to undermine these efforts. Also, the killing of Nils Horner by a little-known group like Feda’i Mahaz, through an operation that would require planning and expertise, substantiates the fact that the splinter groups hold influence over the rest of the Taliban movement and continue to receive support from them. Meanwhile, there are analysts who believe claims by Feda’i Mahaz are unverifiable and are part of a media strategy aimed at drawing public attention.

Zainul Abid is an expert on Middle-East and Asia-Pacific region based in New Delhi, India.

Note

1. For the full statement from Feda’i Mahaz on the Doha negotitations, please see https://www.alfida.org/afg/eng/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/the-stance-of-Fidai-front-regarding-Qatar-negotiations.docx.