Gulmurod Khalimov is perhaps the highest-profile defector from the majority-Muslim ex-Soviet republi

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Daily Caller News Foundation US-Trained Foreign Special Forces Commander Defects To ISIS
Gulmurod Khalimov is perhaps the highest-profile defector from the majority-Muslim ex-Soviet republic in central Asia. Since vanishing from duty in late April, he has sparked a search across Tajikistan, and endless speculation about his location and intentions.
Islamic State s propaganda often targets narrow demographics for recruitment. Russian speakers in central Asia are one of those groups: one preteen boy from Kazakhstan has been the star of several IS videos. (RELATED: New ISIS Video Features Kid Executioner)
Addressing the many ethnic Tajiks who work as migrant workers in Russia, he says that living under a secular democratic government amounts to being servants of infidels, when as Muslims they ought instead to be servants of Allah. By this argument, he urges them repeatedly to immigrate to the jihadi group s purported state in Syria and Iraq: if you were believers, you would have known to come here. (RELATED: Muslim Polygamy Is Russia s Hottest Political Debate)
Echoing the group s interpretation of Islam, he calls immigration to Islamic State a religious duty, marveling at the diversity of nations represented in the jihadis territory. The video, incidentally, was released shortly after a United Nations report saying that Islamic terrorist groups enjoy members from over 100 countries worldwide.
He also addresses American swine, saying that in his three visits to the country he has seen how you prepare soldiers to eliminate Muslims and Islam. He vows that in retribution, we will come to your homes and we will kill you.
Russia and its allies in central sandwich Asia have repeatedly raised the alarm over Islamist radicalization and unrest in the decades since the fall of the Soviet Union. Hundreds of central Asians have joined IS since it came to prominence in 2014.
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