Bangladesh ‘on alert’ for
militants amid Taliban’s
takeover of Afghanistan
https://www.scmp.com/week-
asia/politics/article/3146454/bangladesh-alert-
militants-amid-talibans-takeover-afghanistan
A police official says some Bangladeshis have ‘left
home’ to travel to Afghanistan amid a spike in social
media posts by Taliban sympathisers
But while militants who returned from the Afghan
war in the 1990s and 2000s pose a threat, experts
note anti-terrorism efforts have also strengthened
over the years
Masum Billah in Dhaka
Published: 26 Aug, 2021
Bangladesh police’s elite Rapid Action Battalion, a unit
focused on combating extremist groups. File photo: AP
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has fuelled
concerns of a revival of militancy in Bangladesh,
amid a surge in social media posts by sympathisers
and claims by a police official that some
Bangladeshis have been seeking to travel to the
Central Asian country.
Dhaka’s police commissioner Shafiqul Islam this week
said the Taliban had issued a call for people to join the war
in Afghanistan a day before Kabul fell, and that some
Bangladeshis had “left home” in response. “It is our
[assessment] that some people from Bangladesh have
been caught in India, and some are trying to reach
Afghanistan on foot in various ways,” Shafiqul said.
Taliban’s return ‘boosts morale’ of militant groups in
Southeast Asia
21 Aug 2021
When asked to elaborate, Moniruzzaman, an additional
Deputy Inspector General at Bangladesh police’s anti-
terrorism unit, said: “We are observing the developments
and we are alert.”
The Dhaka police commissioner’s comments caused a
buzz across Bangladesh and drew a divided response by
observers, with some claiming the fears were unfounded
and questioning the veracity of his information.
But others said Shafiqul’s concerns were valid given the
country had militants who joined the Afghan war and
returned to lead local jihadist groups in the 1990s and
early 2000s.
“The history of Bangladesh’s militancy trend that began
in the 1990s has a deep connection with Taliban, as the
Bangladeshi mujahideen who returned from the Afghan
war later formed several local militant groups,” said
Mubashar Hasan, an expert on radicalisation, religion and
politics and an adjunct researcher at Australia’s Western
Sydney University.
Afghans flee to neighbouring Pakistan en masse
following Taliban takeover
Shafqat Munir, Head of the Bangladesh Centre for
Terrorism Research at Bangladesh Institute of Peace and
Security Studies (BIPSS), an independent think tank, said
organisations such as the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami
Bangladesh (HUJI-B) and Jamaat-ul Mujahideen
Bangladesh (JMB) were among those led by Afghan
returnees.
“It was their experience of engaging in combat in
Afghanistan and their radical ideological indoctrination
which enabled them to aspire for similar philosophies in
Bangladesh,” he said. “It is hard to say, however, how
many people actually went to Afghanistan and eventually
how many returned – but the number was not too large.”