From Kabul to Damascus

How one led to the other, and how one copied the other

The fall of Aleppo and subsequent conquest of Syria, including Damascus is to be written into the radical Islamist arsenals of history, along with the conquests of Mosul by ISIS; or the Taliban conquest of Kabul. However, due the differences between ISIS, al-Qaeda, and a third set of jihadist groups, they not all recognize each others victories. Despite this, more groups celebrated the Taliban takeover of Kabul than the ISIS triumphs of 2014 and the subsequent proclamation of the Caliphate. The starting point, therefore, is the fall of Kabul in 2021. This showed the jihadist groups that it can be done.

HTS militant in Idlib with sweets to hand to celebrate the conquest of Kabul in 2021. Source: X

Several jihadist groups congratulated the Taliban when they conquered Kabul. Haya’at Tahrir al-Sham, the former al-Qaeda branch in Syria, welcomed the victory. This, despite breaking ties with al-Qaeda five years before that. HTS also described that as an example to follow. It used the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan to recruit and win the support of jihadi ideologues. It also paraded his fighters in Idlib, waving Taliban flags, honking horns, and firing shots into the air. It used it as an example, and aimed to show no need to negotiate with Assad. Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, launched fireworks to celebrate the return of the Taliban, as well as gunfire. It described the conquest as the beginning of a “pivotal transformation” in the Muslim world. The Syrian Islamic Council, and the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria congratulated them on their return to Afghanistan. Al-Shabaab also cheered the takeover of Afghanistan, possibly celebrating it in the areas it controls in Somalia. Al-Qaeda Central congratulated the Taliban.

“This is the story that is going to impact and influence jihadi fighters around the globe for the next decade, the same way as the victory over the Soviets in Afghanistan in the ‘80s inspired the jihadis around the world during the whole 1990’s and even afterwards”,

stated the director of security studies at the French Institute of International Relations, Elie Tenenbaum.