Over a thousand soldiers of Afghanistan’s nascent army just fled across the border into Tajikistan (ref. 1). The Taliban is advancing swiftly in the north. The situation has deteriorated rapidly since the last US troops left Bagram airbase three days ago (ref. 2), the sprawling military base and airfield north of Kabul that once saw more than one hundred thousand US troops.
District after district continues to fall to the Taliban. Hundreds of US humvees, trucks, machine guns and even artillery have been captured by the Taliban from surrendering Afghan troops (ref. 3).
The country faces “total collapse”. According to US intelligence, Kabul could fall and the government could be overthrown within months (ref. 3).
But the Taliban is merely the half of it. The other half is the rise of ISIS in Afghanistan.
Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov mentioned that, in northern Afghanistan, the Islamic State was actively gaining territory, as US and NATO troops leave the country (ref. 4). Separately, John Godfrey, US special envoy against ISIS, warned that the Islamic State’s Khorasan branch is a growing and serious threat (ref. 5).
Since 2015, the two groups of Islamists have clashed, and fighters on both sides have killed each other. While the Taliban is larger, it is not inconceivable that ISIS might takeover the Taliban, or at least form an alliance.
A few weeks ago, in Nigeria, ISIS forcibly pushed into Boko Haram’s territory, and went after Abubakar Shekau, the equally ruthless leader of Boko Haram, who eventually exploded a suicide vest rather than submit (ref. 6). Reportedly, the order to go after Shekau came from Abdullah Qardash himself (ref. 6). After the death of Shekau, Boko Haram fighters en masse pledged their allegiance to ISIS, that is to say, the Islamic State of West Africa (ref. 7).
Now, it is noteworthy that ISIS in Afghanistan is regarded as the Islamic State of “Khorasan”. Notice also that the flag of ISIS is black with the Islamic profession of faith, or shahada, written in Arabic in white.
According to Islamic eschatology, there is a hadith from Islam’s Prophet Muhammad that “black flags” will appear in “Khorasan”, and Muslims are commanded to join with them for jihad whatever the cost, because this army will bring about the Khalifa from Allah, and this army will march undefeated to Jerusalem.
As every Christian that has been paying attention to me should know by now, the Bible explains that the Antichrist will rise out of “Nineveh” (ref. Nahum 1:11). He is the “Assyrian” (ref. Isaiah 10:24, 14:25, etc). That means Iraq and Syria, which explains ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. ISIS first appeared on the world stage when it captured the city of Mosul in June 2014, literally Nineveh.
Subsequently, ISIS lost it territories in Iraq and Syria. This is the prophesied “deadly wound” of the beast (ref. Revelation 13:3, Revelation 13:12). But more recently, ISIS has regained ground, and is once more growing in strength. In other words, the wound is being healed!
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Revelation 13:3
Today, the black flags of ISIS are increasingly in Afghanistan, the land known to Muslims as Khorasan. What is more, Afghanistan is about to collapse.
References:
1. SBS (6 July 2021), “Hundreds of Afghan security personnel flee into Tajikistan as Taliban advances”, sbs.com.au
2. Richard Engel, Courtney Kube, Marc Smith and Adela Suliman (2 July 2021), “U.S. military leaves Bagram Airfield in major step in Biden’s Afghan withdrawal”, nbcnews.com
3. Patrick Knox (2 July 2021), “Taliban seizes 700 US military vehicles & artillery from surrendering Afghan troops as country faces ‘total collapse’”, thesun.co.uk
4. Reuters (2 July 2021), “Russia: ISIS building up forces in N. Afghanistan as NATO exits – report”, jpost.com
5. Greg Hadley (1 July 2021), “ISIS in Afghanistan Remains a Serious Threat, Special Envoy Warns”, airforcemag.com
6. Jason Burke (7 June 2021), “Boko Haram leader killed on direct orders of Islamic State”, theguardian.com
7. Molly Kilete (28 June 2021), “Boko Haram, ISWAP reunion: We’re studying development –Army”, sunnewsonline.com