Too late, there is a new sheriff in town.
Via LWJ:
The Taliban rejects “peace talks” with the West and advertises its continuing alliance with al Qaeda in a newly released video entitled, “Bond of Nation with the Mujahideen.”
The video was produced by Manba’ al-Jihad Media for Production, which has long been affiliated with the Haqqani Network and was folded into the Taliban’s media arm years ago. The production was disseminated on the Taliban’s websites and social media, including on accounts affiliated with the group’s spokesman.
The video is also attributed to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Commission for Cultural Affairs. Until late 2001, the Taliban ruled over its own emirate inside Afghanistan and it has retained that name to this day, as the jihadists hope to resurrect their nation.
The propaganda film opens with clips of Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama discussing the prospect of a peace deal with the Taliban.
The Taliban responds with an old audio message from Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, who was named the emir of the Taliban in 2015 after the organization was forced to admit that Mullah Omar had passed away two years earlier. Mansour was killed in an American airstrike in May.
Mansour described the “peace and reconciliation process” as “mere claims of the enemy.” The Taliban’s foes have tried to “weaken” the jihad with “money, media and deviant scholars,” and they tried “to eradicate [the] unity of the Mujahideen.” But they failed, according to Mansour. “We should not listen to these propagandas [sic] neither these ‘Peace Talks,’” Mansour said. “And this jihad will continue until the Word of Allah and Shariah is implemented.“
Taliban officials often claim that they seek negotiations with the West. But the Taliban has used such talks to extract concessions, without giving up anything of substance. And these negotiations are different from true “peace talks,” which the Taliban’s senior leadership rejects in the video.
An excerpt from a speech previously recorded by Siraj Haqqani one of the Taliban’s top deputy leaders, is also featured. Haqqani has long been closely allied with al Qaeda. These ties are documented in Osama bin Laden’s files and can be seen in other evidence as well.
Haqqani praises the founding of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, saying it was not established for “fame,” or because people wanted to increase their “position,” but to implement Allah’s Sharia (Islamic law) “upon this land.”