MIDDLE EAST
Taliban rebuke UNSC report over al-Qaeda and ETIM presence in Afghanistan
The notorious terrorist group al-Qaeda has established eight new training camps and five madrassas (religious schools) and maintains several safehouses across Afghanistan.
The United Nations Security Council in its latest report said that al-Qaeda has established “up to eight new training camps in Afghanistan, including four in Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan and Uruzgan provinces, with a new base to stockpile weaponry in the Panjshir Valley.”
The terrorist network also operates five madrasas – religious schools where it trains and indoctrinates children to become fighters – in the east and northeast of Afghanistan. “The group also controls several safehouses in the capital, Kabul, and Herat province, from where it facilitates the movement of its members and liaisons between its leadership in the country and its top leadership in neighboring Iran,” according to the report.
The report furthered that Taliban not only maintain links with al-Qaeda but they also retrain traditional ties to most regional terrorist entities, including the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, also known as the Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIM/TIP), and Jamaat Ansarullah (JA).
The report also said that Taliban have harbored and allowed active support of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which routinely conducts attacks across the border in Pakistan. Taliban has been blamed for not honoring its pledge to cut ties with all terrorist groups, and also not allowing Afghan soil to be used for attacks against other countries.
Threat of terrorism is rising in both Afghanistan and the region
The report furthered that the link between the Taliban and both al-Qaida and TTP remains strong and symbiotic. “A range of terrorist groups have greater freedom of maneuver under the Taliban de facto authorities. They are making good use of this, and the threat of terrorism is rising in both Afghanistan and the region,” the report added.
While they (Taliban) have sought to reduce the profile of these groups and have conducted operations against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (ISIL-K), in general, the Taliban have not delivered on the counter-terrorism provisions under the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan between the United States and the Taliban.
The report also said that al-Qaida is rebuilding operational capability, that TTP is launching attacks into Pakistan with support from the Taliban, that groups of foreign terrorist fighters are projecting threat across Afghanistan’s borders and that the operations of ISIL-K are becoming more sophisticated and lethal (if not more numerous).
Some defeated members of Security Council spreading hatred and rumors toward Afghanistan
However, the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the report and said that the United Nations is “always spreading propaganda”, emphasizing that there is no base for al-Qaeda inside Afghanistan.
Tliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the report over militant groups presence in Afghanistan and said that the United Nations is “always spreading propaganda”,
Mujahid in a statement said that the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) strongly rejects this false allegation. Unfortunately, a regular program of accusing the IEA has been started from the address of the United Nations, which is always spreading propaganda. This is a misuse from the address of the United Nations, which unfortunately member states allow it to be continued.”
He furthered, “We know that some member states of the Security Council have been defeated in Afghanistan, they will naturally spread their hatred and rumors, however, those member countries that have good relations with Afghanistan should not allow the status of this great international institution to deteriorate and its decisions to be made based on the political goals of other countries.”
Mujahid said that there is no one related to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, nor does the Islamic Emirate allow anyone to use the territory of Afghanistan against others.
Unfortunately, the reports of the Security Council originate from the sources who stood by the occupation for their own interests for the past 20 years and are hostile to the freedom, development and security of Afghanistan, according to him.
Taliban wants UN Security Council to remain neutral
“We hope that the UN Security Council remains neutral and does not reflect some opportunistic political and economic goals in its reports, which will ultimately question its status and credibility in Afghanistan,” Mujahid added.
He furthered that one of the main reasons of the “disaster of the last 20-year was the judgment based on such unfounded information.”
Security Council also doubts Taliban decree on banning poppy cultivation
The report also hinted at the poppy cultivation issue in Afghanistan and said it is too early to judge the impact of the decree by the Taliban in April 2022 banning poppy cultivation.
“At this point, prices have increased, as has production of the more profitable methamphetamine. Key Taliban individuals remain closely involved in production and trafficking. The Taliban de facto authorities have had some success in revenue generation and budgetary management, with the caveat that data on expenditures is scant and opaque,” according to the report.
Taliban and al-Qaeda relations
Analysts believe that al-Qaeda and Taliban are enjoying strong ties, but at the sametime the perception is that al-Qaeda is now a defeated terrorist group and much weaker compared to many years ago. Reportedly the group has lost its all ground-and-foot fighters and only its leadership is still residing in Kabul and elsewhere and being protected by the Taliban.
One year after the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021, the than al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri was killed in a US drone strike in downtown Kabul city. He was targeted in a guest house in Kabul’s diplomatic area. The guest house belongs to the Taliban Interior Minister Sirajudding Haqqani, who is also the powerful leader of the Haqqani network.
US had provided at least $2.6 billion in aid to Afghanistan since August 2021
“The presence of al-Qaeda senior figures in the country has not changed, and the group continues to pose a threat in the region and potentially beyond,” the UN report warns. But the report also said that the “group cannot at present project sophisticated attacks at long range.”
There might be some bases or hideouts belonging to the al-Qaeda, but the group is much weaker now than it used to be, especially during the Taliban fight against the foreign troops in Afghanistan, said a Taliban official.
“Taliban will never allow any group, including al-Qaeda, to pose a threat internally or to other countries using Afghanistan soil,” the official told Harici on condition of anonymity.
The Taliban is also very much careful to deal with al-Qaeda because of its links with the US and Washington is considering al-Qaeda as the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.
The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said the international community had provided at least $2.9 billion in aid to Afghanistan since August 2021 where $2.6 billion of which came from the US government alone.
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