The Salafi Emirate of Kunar

Vahid Brown’s chapter examines the role of the Salafi Emirate of Kunar’s role in shaping the development of transnational salafi jihadi networks while also focusing on the fault lines within the same. The chapter brings out the significance of this previously little studied Afghan mujahidin movement in forming links between the Gulf and Afghanistan-Pakistan. Explaining the Emirate of Kunar’s brand of jihadi Salafism as a creation based on previous ties with South Asian Ahl-i-Hadith movement and Gulf Salafism, the chapter identifies it as a precursor to the ISIS brand in Iraq and Syria. In its progression, the chapter traces the historical emergence of the emirate followed by an examination of the writings of the Gulf Salafi mashayikh on Jamil al-Rahman, its founder, and the emirate itself. Subsequently, the Afghan Arab literature on the Salafis of Kunar is reviewed.