Tolo News: Al Qaeda and its regional affiliate, al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, continue to operate across Afghanistan despite repeated Taliban claims by the Taliban that the group is no longer present in the country, according to a report by Long War Journal. Badakhshan, Balkh, Faryab, Farah, Ghazni, Helmand, Jawzjan, Kapisa, Kabul, Kandahar, Nangarhar,
Frud Bezhan March 19, 2021 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Afghan special forces stormed an isolated mudbrick house in a Taliban-controlled district of Ghazni Province in October, killing six suspected militants — including Husam Abd-al-Ra’uf, the No. 2 figure in the Al-Qaeda terrorist network. The Egyptian national, also known as Abu Muhsin al-Masri, was on the FBI’s Most Wanted
Michael Hughes: U.S. State Department envoy Zalmay Khalilzad faces a daunting task – persuading the Taliban not to launch an offensive against Western troops that are likely to stay beyond the withdrawal deadline set by the Doha pact. The reboot in talks with the Taliban comes as the insurgents vow to kill any U.S. forces that
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 25, 2021 After 20 years of military engagement, the U.S. war in Afghanistan is at a crossroads. U.S. President Joe Biden faces a crucial choice of whether to stick to a May 1 deadline for troop withdrawal negotiated by the previous administration with the Taliban. Washington is reviewing
Radio Free Afghanistan February 24, 2021 The Taliban has told its members to avoid recruiting or harboring foreign fighters amid doubts about the militants’ commitment to a deal reached with the United States last year that provided for severing links to terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda. “All chiefs and mujahedin are directed to avoid arbitrary
1TV: The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the threat from the Islamic State and al-Qaida in conflict areas including Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, UN experts said in a new report. The report to the UN Security Council said that the threat continued to rise in conflict zones in the last half of 2020 because “the pandemic
Michael Hughes: The Taliban last week threatened to kill any American troop that remains in Afghanistan beyond the deadline of the peace deal the group struck with the Trump administration. The insurgent group is freely willing to make such a threat because it feels it holds all the cards. As a Taliban commander told a Western military
By Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty January 28, 2021 A week after U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration said it would review Washington’s peace deal with the Afghan Taliban, the fate of the nearly year-old agreement is in the balance. The Taliban rejected a U.S. Treasury Department memo saying Al-Qaeda was “gaining strength in Afghanistan” because
Tolo News: The US Treasury Department said that the al-Qaeda is gaining strength in Afghanistan while “continuing to operate with the Taliban under the group’s protection.” “Al-Qaeda broadly still depends on donations from likeminded supporters, and from individuals who believe that their money is supporting humanitarian or charitable causes,” it said in a report released
1TV: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday called Iran “the new Afghanistan” as he accused Tehran of providing safe haven for al Qaeda militants. “I would say Iran is, indeed, the new Afghanistan – as the key geographic hub for al-Qaida – but it’s actually worse,” Pompeo said speaking at the National Press