Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid said in a speech to members of Afghanistan's security forces, broadcast by state television on Saturday, that fighting outside Afghanistan is not religiously sanctioned "jihad" but rather war, which had been barred by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

"If anyone goes outside of Afghanistan for the goal of jihad, it won't be called jihad," Akhundzada said, according to Mujahid.

"If the emir prevents the mujahideen [fighters] from going to battle and they still do it, this is war, not jihad."