Pak-based terror groups JeM, LeT maintain training camps in Afghanistan: UN report

Pakistan-based terrorist groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, led by 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, maintain their training camps in some provinces of Afghanistan and some of them directly under Taliban control. are in. According to a United Nations report. The 13th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, citing a UN member state, said that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Deobandi group that is ideologically close to the Taliban, had “eight trainings in Nangarhar”. camps, three of which are directly under Taliban control.”

India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations TS Tirumurti, in his capacity as chairman of the Taliban Sanctions Committee, also known as the 1988 Sanctions Committee, brought the report “to the attention of the members of the Security Council and as a Issued in. Document of the Council.”

The report said that Masood Azhar-led Deobandi group Jaish-e-Mohammed is ideologically close to the Taliban. Qari Ramzan is the newly appointed chief of JeM in Afghanistan.

It said a previous surveillance team report to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has been described as providing finance and training expertise to Taliban operations.

“Within Afghanistan, according to one member state, it is headed by Mawlawi Yusuf,” the report said, adding that in October 2021, according to one member state, another Lashkar leader, Mawlawi Asadullah Met with Taliban Deputy Interior Minister Noor Jalil.

The same member state reported that in January 2022, a Taliban delegation visited a training camp used by Lashkar-e-Taiba in Nangarhar’s Haska Mena district.

The report said, “The group was asked to maintain three camps in Kunar and Nangarhar. Previous Lashkar members include Aslam Farooqui and Ejaz Ahmed Ahangar (aka Abu Usman al-Kashmiri), both ISIL-K got included in.”

Another member state said there was no evidence of the presence of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba in the region, as effective security operations were targeting them, according to the report.

The report further stated that the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is the largest constituent of foreign terrorist fighters in Afghanistan, whose numbers are estimated to be several thousand.

Other groups include the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Jamaat Ansarullah and Lashkar, each numbering in the few hundreds.

It said that the TTP, led by Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, has “arguably benefited” all foreign extremist groups in Afghanistan from the Taliban takeover. It has carried out many attacks and operations in Pakistan.

The TTP exists as a stand-alone force, rather than feeling pressure to merge its fighters into Afghan Taliban units, as is likely the case for most foreign terrorist fighters. The report said the group comprises 3,000 to 4,000 armed fighters based in the east and southeast Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas.

According to one member state, the control of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation gives the Haqqani network more points of contact with Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, it said.

“Sirajuddin Haqqani has reportedly been trusted more than anyone else in the actual administration to act as a mediator between the TTP and Pakistan. The Haqqani mediation has not led to a permanent ceasefire, but is another indication of Sirajuddin’s central role within the Taliban and a mediator and authority figure between the rank-and-file of the TTP and other predominantly Pashtun groups in eastern Afghanistan. is,” the report said. ,

“The Haqqani network is still regarded as the closest link to al-Qaeda … the group remains a reliable partner for its local facility of safe havens and support for the al-Qaeda corps, with the so-called ‘legacy’ including maintaining ties to ‘al-Qaeda’: those who long ago established ties with the late Jalaluddin Haqqani and to whom Haqqani feels indebted for supporting him and the Taliban,” the report said.

The report said that following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Haqqani network “moved quickly” to secure control of some key departments and ministries: the interior, intelligence, passport and migration. “The key de facto ministerial positions held by the Haqqani network include de facto interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani and de facto minister for refugees Khalil Ahmed Haqqani,” it said.

“Responsibilities associated with these roles are carefully chosen, as ministries include issuing identity cards, passports, and monitoring individuals entering and exiting the country.

“The Haqqani network has also become the best militarily equipped faction and controls several armed formations, including the elite Badri 313 Battalion. The Haqqani network now largely controls security in Afghanistan, including the security of the capital, Kabul.

The 11th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team said that among the groups that pose a security threat, Afghan authorities have highlighted groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, On which the monitoring team has written in the previous reports.

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It was said that the presence of these groups is concentrated in the eastern provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar and Nuristan, where they operate under the umbrella of the Afghan Taliban.

The 11th report said that according to Afghan negotiators, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba facilitated the smuggling of terrorist fighters into Afghanistan, who act as advisers, trainers and experts in improvised explosive devices .

Both groups were responsible for carrying out targeted killings against government officials and others. The report said Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed have around 800 and 200 armed fighters, respectively, co-located with Taliban forces in Mohmand Dara, Dur Baba and Sherzad districts of Nangarhar province .

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan also maintains its presence in Lal Pura district near the border area of ​​Pakistan’s Mohmand Dara. In Kunar province, Lashkar-e-Taiba has 220 more fighters and Jaish-e-Mohammed has 30 more, all scattered within Taliban forces.

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