Al-Qaeda operates under Taliban protection: UN report (Representational image)
The United Nations has warned in a new report that many places in Afghanistan are under increasing threat from terrorist groups such as Daesh and al-Qaeda. It said the security situation remains critical, with uncertainty surrounding the peace process and the risk of further deterioration.
A UN Security Council report published on Thursday said that despite territorial, leadership, manpower and financial losses during 2020 in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, the Khorasan branch of Daesh, or ISIL-K, remained in other provinces in Afghanistan, including Nuristan. is gone. Badghis, Sar-e-Pul, Baglan, Badakhshan, Kunduz and Kabul are where the fighters have set up sleeper cells, Tolo News reported.
The report said the group has strengthened its position in and around Kabul, where it conducts most of its attacks, targeting minorities, activists, government employees and personnel of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.
Recently, Daesh claimed responsibility for a brutal June 8 attack that killed 10 humanitarian destroyers working with the Helo Trust in Baghlan province and injured 16 others, the report said.
Tolo News said that in its efforts to revive, ISIL-K has prioritized the recruitment and training of new supporters; Its leaders also hope to attract the raging Taliban and other extremists who reject the agreement between the US and the Taliban to bring peace to Afghanistan, and recruit fighters from the Syrian Arab Republic, Iraq and other conflict areas.
The report said estimates of the strength of Daesh’s Khorasan branch are widely held, with one member state reporting between 500 and 1,500 fighters and another suggesting that it could rise to 10,000 in the medium term.
“One member state insisted that ISIL-K was largely underground and covert,” the report said. Its leader, Shahab al-Muhajir, alias Sanaullah, cooperates with Sheikh Tamim, the head of the al-Sadiq office.
The report said Tamim and his office have been tasked by the Daesh core group to oversee the network connecting the Khorasan branch to a wider area with Daesh’s presence.
The UN report states that as established by the UN Monitoring Group in its 12th Report to the Security Council Committee pursuant to Resolution 1988 (2011), al-Qaeda is present in at least 15 Afghan provinces, mainly To the east, south and south – the eastern region.
The report said al-Qaeda’s weekly Thabat newsletter reports on its operations inside Afghanistan.
Tolo News said that al-Qaeda (AQIS) in the Indian subcontinent operates under Taliban protection from Kandahar, Helmand and Nimroj provinces.
Since the death of Asim Omar in 2019, AQIS has been led by Osama Mahmood, the report said, adding that the group mainly consists of Afghan and Pakistani nationals, as well as individuals from Bangladesh, India and Myanmar.
On 30 March, AQIS commander Dawat Bek Tajiki (aka Abu Mohammed al-Tajiki) was killed by Afghan forces in the Gyan district of Paktika province.
“Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is assessed by member states to be alive but ill in Afghanistan. His most likely successor, Saif al-Adl, is reported to remain in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the report said. “
The report noted that member states differ as to what al-Adl’s options would be if they are called upon to succeed al-Zawahiri, but most assess that relocating them to Afghanistan may not be an option. , stated in the report.
The report said the calculation of al-Qaeda’s leadership succession is complicated by the peace process in Afghanistan, where under the Doha Agreement of February 2020, the Taliban is committed to suppressing any international terrorist threat, but said it was unclear. that Saif- al-Adl would be able to travel to Afghanistan to take the position of leader of al-Qaeda.
The report noted that some member states point to its history of living and operating from Africa and assess that it may choose to base itself there.
Tolo News said the report also added that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the IMU, is facing financial difficulties and a Taliban that is less friendly than before.
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