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WASHINGTON —The Taliban have been forced to deny claims that they are trying to join Hamas fighters, after a fake post on the X social media platform claimed the Afghan militant group wants to travel to fight in the war.
Analysts say this has put the Taliban into the difficult position of publicly backing away from active support for Hamas and possibly angering some of their own cadre.
A social media account, Taliban Public Relations Department, which later changed its name to #Free Palestine, posted on Saturday that the Taliban contacted Iran, Iraq and Jordan for passage to join Hamas in the ongoing fighting between the militant group and Israel.
The post was viewed 2.5 million times and was also carried by some media outlets.
This evening, the foreign office contacted his counterparts in #Iran, Iraq and Jordan, asking for permission for our men to cross their sovereign territory on their way to the holy land. We are preparing and hoping for the good news from our neighbours.#Gaza #Israel #Palestine pic.twitter.com/ZuHTMeQc7q
The head of the Taliban's political office in Doha, Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, told a group of journalists in a WhatsApp group that the news was inaccurate.
"Not correct," he wrote, in answer to a question, adding, "These are rumors, not confirmed news."
The Taliban's spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid, told VOA that the Taliban's "foreign ministry has issued a statement, and the Taliban's position is the same."
The Taliban's foreign ministry's statement, issued Saturday, said it is "carefully monitoring the recent events in Gaza."
"The Islamic Emirate considers every kind of defense and resistance of the people of Palestine for the freedom of the land and the holy places to be their legitimate right," added the statement.
The fighting between Israel and Hamas started on Saturday after Hamas fighters breached the fence line along the Gaza border and entered southern Israeli towns.
Hamas was one of the first groups to congratulate the Taliban on taking power in Afghanistan in 2001.
Both groups have met several times since then.
Difficult position
Hashim Wahdatyar, a program director at the Institute of Current World Affairs in Washington, told VOA that the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, put the Taliban in a difficult position.
He said that the Taliban "tilt toward Hamas" and will provide "political, logistical and military" support to the group. Still, they will not "publicly announce" it.
"Taliban won't publicize its support to Hamas since it has obligations according to the Doha agreement that the Taliban must prevent any threat from Afghanistan to the U.S. and its allies, for example, Israel."
Sher Jan Ahmadzai, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska, said that Taliban involvement in the war would be a violation of the Doha Agreement.
"If the Taliban engage in the Palestine-Israel conflict, this would be considered a direct violation of the Doha deal," he said.
He added that it would be "unprecedented" if the Taliban got involved in the Middle East conflict.
Ahmadzai said that the Taliban might not officially engage; however, "there might be groups of the Taliban fighters who still believe in global jihad and consider the Palestinian-Israel conflict a religious deed to be engaged in."
'Vocal support'
Wahid Faqiri, an Afghan political analyst, told VOA that the Taliban leadership is "trying hard to stay away from foreign involvement."
"They know if they try to do this, the U.S. will cut all financial assistance, arm the opposition, and impose more sanctions," said Faqiri.
The U.N. says that Afghanistan is facing the world's largest humanitarian crisis as more than 28.3 million people, or over two-thirds of the population, are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Thomas Johnson, a research professor at the National Security Affairs Department at Naval Postgraduate School, told VOA that the Taliban's position is "extremely anti-Israeli."
"I just don't know if they have the resources to really add anything to Hamas other than vocal support," Johnson said.