Did the Afghan Taliban ask Arab states for free passage to reach Israel and fight alongside Hamas against Israeli forces? No, that's not true: The head of the Taliban's political office in Doha, Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, told a group of journalists that the news was inaccurate.
The claim originated from a video (archived here) on TikTok by user @alfaomeganews on October 9, 2023. The caption (translated from Romanian to English by Lead Stories staff) reads:
The Taliban asked Iran, Iraq and Jordan for free passage to go join Hamas in their fight against Israel. They stated that their intent is to conquer Jerusalem.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Oct 11 09:06:50 2023 UTC)
The Taliban have been forced to deny claims that they are trying to join Hamas fighters after a post on the X social media platform (formerly Twitter) claimed the Afghan militant group wants to fight against Israel. A social media account, the Taliban Public Relations Department, which later changed its name to #Free Palestine, posted on October 7, 2023, that the Taliban contacted Iran, Iraq and Jordan for free passage to join Hamas to fight Israel. That post has been picked up and shared by several Israel-based publications such as the Jerusalem Post and Israel National News.
The head of the Taliban's political office in Doha, Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, told journalists in a WhatsApp group that the news was inaccurate, Voice of America reported. "Not correct," Shaheen wrote, adding "These are rumors, not confirmed news." A journalist from WIONews also reported that the claim was false. The WIONews article was been picked up by Forbes.
The Taliban foreign ministry issued a statement following the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, saying that it is "closely monitoring the latest incidents in the Gaza Strip," casting blame on Israel for violating the rights of Palestinians, oppressing them and "insulting holy places of Muslims." While rumor has it that the Taliban have been supplying Hamas with ammunition in the past, there is no evidence that they have called to arms now. Furthermore, the Doha Accord between the Taliban and the U.S. obliges the Taliban to prevent any threat to the U.S. and its allies, such as Israel, that starts from Afghanistan.
