SUMMARY

On 10 January 2015, some former Taleban commanders pledged allegiance to IS and on 26 January, the Khorasan Province of the Islamic State was announced. One of the commanders, Mullah Abdol Rauf Khadim, had in early January been involved in a non-state conflict against the Taleban and as the deputy governor (wali) of the Khorasan province, he and his forces within the IS continued to oppose the Taleban in several areas around Afghanistan.

The main difference between the Taleban and the IS was their view on Taleban leader Mullah Omar versus IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Whereas the Taleban considered Omar superior to Baghdadi's position as Caliph, Baghdadi has demanded all Muslims to pledge allegiance to him. In January 2015, Baghdadi reportedly called Mullah Omar "a fool and illiterate warlord" and that he did not deserve a spiritual or political credibility. After a period of clashes between the two groups in Nangarhar province in the east, Taleban deputy leader (and later elected new leader) Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour issued a statement claiming that the Taleban was the legitimate representative of jihadists in Afghanistan and that all operations should be under its command. In his statement directed at IS leader Baghdadi, Mansour said "in order to prevent the scourge of disunity in Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate considers allowing jihadist activity here only from the ranks of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as logical from the religious and jihadist point of view. It [the Taliban] considers creating another group against it contrary to the interests of jihad, mujahideen, and Islam". IS responded a week later, ordering fighters in Khorasan to "have no mercy or compassion" for those who didn't "repent" and "join the Caliphate".

There are also ideological differences between the two groups; while IS is a pan-Islamist group striving to establish a unified Caliphate across the globe, the Taleban has remained focused on Afghanistan. Moreover, IS adheres to the Wahhabi/Salafi branch of Islam while the Taleban belongs to the Hanafi school and believes in Sufism.

Fighting between the Taleban and IS has been concentrated in Nangarhar province, where the Khorasan Province of IS managed to establish control in several districts, at the expense of the Taleban. Clashes have also occurred in Farah, Jawzjan, Zabul and Hilmand, but the Taleban has been able to defeat the IS there.

The non-state conflict between IS and Taleban is first included in UCDP data in 2015. In May that year clashes took place in Nangarhar in the east of Afghanistan, resulting in the dyad crossing the threshold of 25 battle-related deaths.