Afghan Biographies

Jamaat Ansarullah


Name Jamaat Ansarullah
Ethnic backgr.
Date of birth
Function/Grade Background and Names July 28, 2021
History and Biodata

Background Jamaat Ansarullah:
A 200-strong group of pro-Taliban Tajikistan militants are now controlling areas along Afghan-Tajik border after the Taliban afforded them control of the key strategic border region in recent days, according to officials on Wednesday, July 07 2021.

Weeks after capturing key strategic areas and security outposts, Tajik authorities have said, Ansarullah group consisting of 200 Tajik nationals under Taliban umbrella have been deployed in several border districts between Afghanistan and Tajikistan raising the Taliban flag and furthering their cause.
 

The group, assumedly run by Mohammad Sharifov, is recruiting fighters from Tajikistan.

Ansarullah extremist group have taken part in Taliban offensives in Badakhshan where the militant group captured large swaths of territory in recent months. Tajik fighters in Badakhshan caught the Afghan government’s attention last year when the insurgents brutally killed a group of f Afghan Army soldiers after the fall of the Maimay district to the Taliban.

Intensity of clashes in northern and northeastern Afghanistan has increased the Taliban links with some banned extremist groups. But Ansarullah will open Pandora’s Box for Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries as the group was founded by a rogue former Tajik opposition commander Amriddin Tabarov a decade ago with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the government in Dushanbe.
 

Fearing the fallout of this new development, Tajikistan has deployed troops along its southern border with Afghanistan. Moreover, Afghan authorities had earlier claimed that a group of militants from Tajikistan played a major role in the Taliban’s capture of an Afghan district months ago.

 

Russia has also drafted in troops across Afghanistan border as Kremlin sees Taliban’s rise as an existential threat to its allies in Central Asia which could only be circumvented by fortifying their sagging border defences.

Ansarullah, since its creation, has had links with other militant groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban.
 

Ansarullah was founded in 2010 by Amriddin Tabarov, who had been a field commander for anti-government Islamist forces during Tajikistan's 1992-97 civil war.  Tabarov, also known as Mullah Amriddin, was killed by Afghan government forces in 2015.

Initially, Ansarullah’s members were former Tajik opposition fighters who refused to accept a 1997 peace agreement between the government in Dushanbe and the Islamist-led opposition.
 

The so-called new generation -- children and relatives of the initial members and supporters -- have since joined the group.

Since its creation, Ansarullah has had links with other militant groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban.
 

In 2019, two of Tabarov's sons were detained by U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan and extradited to Tajikistan.

In August 2019, they were sentenced to lengthy prison terms after being convicted of organizing a criminal group, seeking to overthrow the government, and illegal weapons possession.

 

Last Modified 2022-10-24
Established 2021-07-28