A senior Taliban intelligence official has threatened that they are ready to resume suicide attacks to defend their rule, a warning that came as President Trump said Washington is in talks with the Taliban to regain control of Bagram Air Base.
Tajmir Jawad, deputy head of the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence, said in a recorded message aired Saturday on Taliban-run national television that their fighters carried out suicide bombings to seize power and would do so again if necessary to preserve their rule.
“We strapped explosives to ourselves to bring this system to power, and to defend it we will again strap explosives to ourselves and detonate — against disbelief, occupation and anyone who seeks to destroy this system,” Jawad said, vowing he was prepared to be “reduced to pieces” for the Taliban’s survival.
Jawad, known as the “mastermind of suicide attacks,” made the remarks during a memorial event in Paktia province. He did not mention Trump by name, but his warning coincided with the US president’s comments in London and later at the White House that talks with the Taliban are ongoing about a possible American return to Bagram, once the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan.
Jawad, a senior member of the Haqqani network, was appointed deputy intelligence chief after the Taliban took power in August 2021. He has repeatedly defended suicide operations since then. In March, he told Taliban suicide bombers in Kandahar that such tactics would again be used if required to protect the regime.
The former government had said Jawad had masterminded deadly attacks on civilians, including the November 2020 assault on Kabul University that killed 22 students and wounded more than 40 others. Daesh affiliate later claimed responsibility. He has also been linked to the attack on Kabul Bank in Nangarhar that killed dozens.
