Active c. 1980s – present Founder Jamil al-Rahman Part of Taliban | Ideology Salafism Area of operations Kunar, Afghanistan | |
Allies al-Qaeda
Lashkar-e-Taiba | ||
Jamaat al Dawa al Quran (JDQ, Society for the Call to the Quran), also known as Jama’at al-Da’wa ila al-Quran wal-Sunna (JDQS) and the Salafi Group, is a militant Islamist organisation operating in eastern Afghanistan.
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Background
Founded around 1986 during the Soviet–Afghan War by Jamil al-Rahman as a splinter from the larger Hezbi Islami faction, Jamaat al Dawa al Quran was a Salafi organisation that hosted many Arab volunteers and received funding from sympathetic Saudi and Kuwaiti businessmen. The group was able to establish an Islamist mini-state in Kunar Province in 1990, but it quickly dissolved after attacks by Hezbi Islami and al-Rahman's assassination in 1991, however JDQ continued to operate.
Following the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, one faction of JDQ registered as a political party and took part in the 2005 Afghan parliamentary elections. Alleged arbitrary arrests and cultural insensitivity by coalition forces, along with loss of influence in the local Kunar administration, led to JDQ members joining the local insurgency as the Salafi Taliban.
By the later part of the decade, JDQ began taking part in the insurgency against NATO and Afghan security forces in Korangal Valley. In 2010, the group pledged allegiance to Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid released a statement announcing that JDQ was now a part of the Taliban.
JDQ was involved in the September 2010 kidnapping of British aid worker Linda Norgrove, who was accidentally killed by US forces during a rescue attempt.
Designation as a terrorist organization
Countries and organizations below have officially listed the group as a terrorist organization.
Combatant Status Review Tribunal
Having an affiliation with the organisation was raised by the Combatant Status Review Tribunal during the hearings of several detainees at Guantanamo Bay detention camp.