Al Qaeda has established eight new coaching camps and maintains a number of safehouses in Afghanistan, in accordance with a report offered to the United Nations Safety Council this week. The report, compiled by the council’s committee created to observe al Qaeda, signifies that the Taliban has not honored its pledge to the U.S. – outlined within the Doha settlement – to sever ties with the fear group, and that the 2 organizations stay shut.
The Taliban has offered elevated safety and help for al Qaeda members since regaining management over Afghanistan in 2021, when U.S. forces pulled out, the report says.
In accordance with the report introduced to the Safety Council, the group behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terror assaults on the U.S. has established ”as much as eight new coaching camps in Afghanistan, together with 4 in Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan and Uruzgan Provinces, with a brand new base to stockpile weaponry within the Panjshir Valley.”
The terrorist group additionally operates 5 madrasas – non secular faculties the place it trains and indoctrinates youngsters to grow to be fighters – within the east and northeast of Afghanistan, the stories stated. It additionally controls a number of safehouses within the capital, Kabul, and Herat province, from whereit facilitates the motion of its members and liaisons between its management within the nation and its high management in neighboring Iran, the report says.
Al Qaeda’s present chief, Sayf al-Adl is believed to be based mostly in Iran, in accordance with the United Nations and the U.S. Justice Division, which is providing a $10 million reward for data on his actual whereabouts.
Taliban-al Qaeda relations
A 12 months after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, the U.S. killed al Qaeda’s then-leader Ayman al-Zawahri with a drone strike in Kabul’s diplomatic district. He was inside a visitor home belonging to the Taliban’s Inside Minister, who can also be the chief of the highly effective Taliban-affiliated Haqqani community, Sirajuddin Haqqani.
”The presence of al Qaeda senior figures within the nation has not modified, and the group continues to pose a risk within the area and doubtlessly past,” the U.N. report warns. It notes, nonetheless, that in its evaluation, ”the group can’t at current venture subtle assaults at lengthy vary.”
Analysts consider al Qaeda is now a a lot weaker group than it was, and plenty of doubt the Taliban would permit actions that might jeopardize the U.S. humanitarian help offered to Afghanistan, which stays important to stopping a humanitarian disaster within the nation.
”Are there coaching camps in Afghanistan? It’s fully doable. However their capability to hit targets outdoors the instant South Asian area is minimal,” veteran regional analyst Torek Farhadi instructed CBS Information. ”The Taliban are cautious to not let such actions develop, as they’re involved with U.S. authorities.”
”The U.S. is presently the biggest humanitarian donor in Afghanistan via the U.N., however finally, this help has resulted in avoiding an additional humanitarian disaster within the nation. The Taliban acknowledge this treasured U.S. help and won’t threat upsetting this association,” he stated.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Particular Inspector Normal for Afghanistan Reconstruction stated the worldwide group had offered not less than $2.9 billion in assist to Afghanistan since August 2021, some $2.6 billion of which got here from the U.S. authorities.