Foreign militants try to continue war in Afghanistan

KABUL – Foreign militants are responsible for extending the war in Afghanistan, Afghan officials say.

The foreigners’ presence has decreased in the past year, but they remain active and ready to continue the war, Afghan analysts add.

“The presence of the Jordanian militants dates back to the years of Afghanistan’s jihad (anti-Soviet war), and most of those Jordanians were related to the Abdullah Hezam’s group,” Vahid Mojdeh, an Afghan political analyst, told Central Asia Online.

Jordanian and other Arab militants are active in provinces like Khost, Kunar and Ghazni, Mojdeh said.

“The expansion and the scope of the war are rooted in the neighbouring Central Asian and regional countries,” said Shafiqollah Taheri, a spokesman for the Afghan National Directorate of Security, July 24 in Kabul.

Al-Qaeda's infiltration in Afghanistan

Al-Qaeda members, most of whom are citizens of countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Egypt, are still present in Afghanistan, according to some Afghan analysts. In addition, Chechens and Uzbek loyalists of late Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader Tahir Yuldashev are fighting the government in various areas.

Ghazni Province is among the regions that have seen an increase in numbers of foreign militants, residents and local officials in Ghazni said.

Foreign fighters, including Arabs and Pakistani militias, are present in some parts of Ghazni and creating a state of insecurity, Deputy Ghazni Provincial Governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi recently said.

One website with ties to al-Qaeda recently reported the death of Jordanian militant Abu Abdul Rahman al-Asir al-Ordoni in Ghazni Province.

However, he was not the first Jordanian militant to be killed in Afghanistan. The most notorious one killed there was Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal Al-Balawi, aka Abu Dujana al-Khurasani, whom authorities accuse of committing a suicide attack on a coalition military base in Khost Province in 2009.

Mahmoud Hamdan Nizal and Abu al Zubeir al Jabri were two other Jordanian militants who were killed in Afghanistan in 2011.