During their 20-year insurgency, the Taliban used suicide bombers as a deadly tool to kill foreign and Afghan government troops and terrorize the civilian population, Radio Free Europe (RSE) writes in English.
Even now, as the Taliban tries to transform itself from an insurgency into a government, its contingent of trained suicide bombers remains a central part of its military and political strategy, experts say.
In a victory parade after retaking power, the Taliban showed off their suicide bombers and an arsenal of suicide bombers strapped with explosives. The parade drew the ire of many Afghans, who said Taliban suicide attacks had killed hundreds of civilians over the years.
The militants also announced the formation of a new "martyrs' brigade" of suicide bombers, a move experts say is an attempt to rebrand their suicide bombers as elite fighters ready to protect the new government.
"The current Taliban leadership is seeking to retroactively take ownership of the suicide bombing in all its forms and give it a new meaning that will help it transform a decentralized insurgency into a unified government," said David Edwards, a professor of anthropology at Williams College. College).
He says the new suicide bomber brigade aims to "give legitimacy to the Taliban leadership as it tries to turn itself into a semblance of a government with regular troops under its command, not just covert agents of violence."
Edwards also noted that the Taliban's would-be suicide bombers were "members of an elite cadre who parade in regimental order wearing colorful uniforms depicting different types of suicide bombers and their function."
In October, the Taliban announced that they were deploying their "martyr brigade" along the border with Tajikistan. The move comes amid tensions between the Taliban-led government and Dushanbe, which has accused the group of monopolizing power.
Abdul Basit Badar, the head of the brigade, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi in October that the suicide bombers were "ready to defend our country at any cost".
"This brigade is ready to be deployed to our borders whenever there is fighting or a threat on our borders," he said, adding that his unit is equipped with US- and Russian-made weapons.
"Ideological messages"
Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani held a rally for the families of the suicide bombers at a luxury hotel in Kabul last month. During the rally, Haqqani praised the suicide bombers for their "sacrifice" and promised their families land and money.
Haqqani is the head of the infamous Haqqani Network, the deadly arm of the Taliban, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the US, while Haqqani is among the FBI's most wanted fugitives.
"I want to do something for the families of our martyrs that will resonate throughout the country," Haqqani said, according to an audio recording of his October 18 speech obtained by RFE/RL. "I would like to give them a plot of land and a special ID that identifies them as members of the families of our martyrs so that their status will be even greater than ours."
Haqqani tried to defend the Taliban's use of suicide bombers, saying that "without fighters who seek martyrdom, we will not be able to fight the infidels," referring to foreign forces and the former Afghan government.
Haqqani also outlined the religious justification the Taliban used to carry out suicide bombings.
Recalling how the Taliban carried out a suicide attack in January 2018 on the Intercontinental Hotel in which 40 people were killed, Haqqani said that the commander who led the attack "greeted him and swore that Prophet Muhammad was personally leading their operation."
In response, some in the audience cried and many chanted "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great".
Edwards says the Taliban "have made the suicide bombing tactic a central part of their ideological messaging, and the suicide vest itself their central symbol."
"Glorification of the suicide bomber"
Sami Yousafzai, a journalist who has covered the Taliban since their emergence in the 1990s, says that by praising suicide bombers, the Taliban are alienating both the Afghans they hope to rule and the international community it needs to fend off an economic and humanitarian crisis.
"Instead of trying to unite Afghans with a narrative of peace after claiming victory in the war, they want to bask in what they see as their glory and celebrate tactics such as suicide bombings that have killed and maimed many Afghan civilians," he says. .
But Yousafzai says the Taliban are not united in using suicide bombers as a pillar of their political strategy.
"Glorifying suicide bombers is something that even reasonable voices within the Taliban have wanted to avoid because it prevents them from gaining support at home and legitimacy abroad," he says.
The all-male Taliban government is dominated by hardline veterans and loyalists, many of whom are under UN and US sanctions for links to terrorism. The Taliban government, which consists almost exclusively of Pashtun clerics, has not been recognized by any country.
There has been a conflict between Taliban hardliners and more moderate figures, who want to gain international recognition and local legitimacy.
The Taliban are not the only group that uses suicide bombers.
The rival extremist group Islamic State, which is waging an increasingly intense war with the Taliban, has carried out a series of deadly suicide bombings targeting the Shiite minority and the new government.
Afghans who had hoped the Taliban's takeover would mark the end of decades of war are now bracing for more violence, including suicide attacks.
On November 2, at least 19 people were killed, including a Taliban commander, and dozens were wounded in a gun and bomb attack on a military hospital in Kabul. "Islamic State" militants claimed responsibility for the attack.
"We still have to live in fear of these attacks," said Nasima, a former government official.
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