Is this time for the Taliban to return Brotherhood’s favors?

Doaa Emam

Some Muslim Brotherhood leaders and members are reportedly leaving Qatar and Turkey for Afghanistan.

This is coming in the wake of the takeover of the country by the Taliban and the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from the country.

Relations between the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood date a long time back.

The Brotherhood used to provide the Afghan group with material support, especially during the occupation of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union.

Now, it is apparently time for the Afghan movement to return favors to the Muslim Brotherhood by hosting Brotherhood members and leaders scattered in different countries.

There appears to be consultations between the two groups at present for this matter to happen.

Nonetheless, the Brotherhood’s support to former Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, continues to leave a bitter taste in the Taliban’s mouth.

At a certain point, this support forced the Taliban to change its attitude towards the Muslim Brotherhood.

However, during their lengthy negotiations with the US in Qatar, Taliban leaders got close to some of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders living in the Gulf state, especially Brotherhood scholar, Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi.

In her study, ‘The Taliban and the Brotherhood: Relations’ History, Reality and Determinants of Future Paths’, researcher Mustafa Zahran, a specialist in Islamist movements, refers to a shift in ties between the group and the Taliban.

This shift, she says, is manifest in the welcome Islah Association, which is affiliated with the Afghan Brotherhood, made to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

The association issued a statement in this regard, following the Taliban’s capture of Kabul, the capital of the country.

The association also welcomed the formation of the new Taliban government.

Zahran reveals in her book that the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood share the same ideological orientation, even as the two movements adopt different mechanisms.

The International Union of Muslim Scholars, which is led by Sheikh Qaradawi, also offered its blessings to the Taliban’s takeover of the rule of Afghanistan.

Nevertheless, the union called on the Afghan movement to involve other political forces in Afghanistan in the country’s rule.

The Sudanese People’s Congress Party, another branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, also announced direct support for the Taliban.

It described the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan’s rule as a ‘historic victory’, according to Zahran.