Taliban to be added to terrorist watchlist to ‘dissuade UK jihadists’

THE Home Office is planning to add the Taliban to the UK’S list of proscribed terrorist groups to discourage Britons from joining it.

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, has reportedly asked officials to add the Taliban to the list, making it possible to prosecute British jihadists who train with the group in Afghanistan and then return to the UK.

The Mail on Sunday reported that Ms

Patel was “livid” the group had not already been officially banned, as MI5 warned the UK’S risk of being attacked by jihadists had increased since the fall of Kabul earlier this month.

“Some will go and train under the Taliban and may come back to launch attacks,” a source told the newspaper. “Others may take their families with them and live under the Taliban’s Islamic government.”

The Taliban has promised not to allow al-qaeda and other Islamic terrorist organisations to operate within the territory they control, under the terms of a deal the group struck with Donald Trump last year. The United States agreed to withdraw from Afghanistan but hoped to minimise the risk of security threats on US soil.

Banning the Taliban under UK law means that membership or support of the group could land Britons with 14 years in prison.

But the move could conflict with the UK’S diplomatic position, which appears to have softened towards the Taliban since they won Kabul from the democratic

government of Ashraf Ghani on August 15.

Earlier this week, General Sir Nick Carter, head of the UK Armed Forces, described the group as “country boys with a code of honour”. Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, stood by his top general’s comments despite claims he had “joined the Taliban PR team”.

The UK has said it will not rush to formally recognise the Taliban as rulers of Afghanistan, and will judge the group by their actions, not words.

But one source told The Daily Telegraph that in a meeting with Tory MPS this week, a Foreign Office official referred to “the Taliban’s second term in office”, suggesting that the Government has already accepted their ownership of Afghanistan’s government. Yesterday, the former head of British forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, said the UK’S terror threat level should be raised to reflect the Taliban’s control of the country. A move to “severe” – which was last used in February – would mean intelligence officials believe an attack is “highly likely”.

He told the Sunday Mirror: “Jihadists everywhere have been celebrating the Taliban victory. This will have re-energised them, encouraged them and motivated them to strike.”