Washington Sleeps as Afghanistan Becomes Breeding Ground For Global Jihad
Michael Hughes
August 10, 2024
The Taliban have long represented themselves as a group with a local vision and little to no aspirations of carrying jihad beyond Afghan borders. Putting aside that aligning with al-Qaeda, an international terrorist group, single-handedly undermines this narrative, evidence continues to mount that Afghanistan has become an ideal base for foreign terrorist groups to recruit, train, and launch attacks globally.
Taliban support for terrorist groups and/or inability to counter them has had significant consequences for the region, including attacks in Russia, Iran, and Pakistan. Most countries in the region have either been hit with a terrorist attack or are under direct threat of one. But the U.S. could soon become a target as well.
In an interview with former Navy SEAL Shaw Ryan last month, Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Massoud said the National Resistance Front (NRF) has intelligence that foreign fighters are entering Afghanistan to receive training and leaving the country to conduct attacks. Massoud said over 20 terrorist groups including regional and international jihadists are active inside Afghanistan. Massoud is also convinced the terrorists training in Afghanistan pose a threat to the U.S. homeland. What is tragically ironic is that U.S. taxpayers are unwittingly financing NGOs linked to the Taliban, the very radical movement enabling terrorists with the desire and potential capacity to strike America. Former U.S. Defense Secretary Christopher Miller claims about $87 million in U.S. assistance per week is ending up in Taliban hands, which would amount to $4.5 billion per year.
Several U.S. politicians appear interested in Massoud’s testimony, although the State Department has reportedly rejected the resistance leader’s visa request. Ryan is even pushing a petition that calls on Congress to allow Massoud to testify. The petition also demands the U.S. stop financing “those beholden to terror,” and redirect funds to the NRF. Chad Robichaux, a U.S. marine veteran who led rescue efforts in Afghanistan, likened the NRF leader’s warnings to those of his father, the famous mujahideen commander, Ahmad Shah Massoud.
“Twenty years later, his son is saying the same thing. There’s a pending attack on the United States. You guys are sending money to the Taliban, and they’re training a terrorist group to attack the United States,” Robichaux told Fox News.
Anti-Taliban sentiment may be gaining traction in Congress, evidenced by a new bill entitled Preventing the Recognition of Terrorist States Act of 2024. The bill if passed would require the State Department to designate the Taliban as a foreign terrorist organization and the Taliban regime as a state sponsor of terrorism. The proposal was introduced by Congresswoman Nancy Mace who minced no words in characterizing the radical movement. “The Taliban are terrorists, plain and simple,” Mace said in a statement.
Al-Qaeda’s new leader, Saif al-Adl, has even made a public call for jihadists to travel to Afghanistan for training. AQ reportedly has terrorist training camps in 12 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Muhammad Ali Nazari, in an analysis for Hasht-e-Subh Daily, explains why Afghanistan provides all the conditions for a group like AQ to prospect, including comprehensive support from the Taliban.
“A terrorist group needs a base, fighters, money, and motivation to strengthen its ranks, all of which Al-Qaeda obtains under the Taliban’s flag. Various bases are already at its disposal, it obtains money from the sale of Afghanistan’s minerals and possibly through several other means, recruits fighters from Taliban’s religious and jihadist schools, and gains motivation from the Taliban’s resurgence after years of isolation and defeat,” the author wrote.
Multiple recent UN Security Council reports shine even more light on the deteriorating situation, the extent to which the Taliban are providing safe haven to jihadists, and how quickly the terror threat is evolving. UN members states have said AQ’s reorganization and training activities in addition to new travel into Afghanistan, “indicate that the group still uses Afghanistan as a permissive haven under the Taliban.” According to the UNSC, the Taliban’s ties with AQ and TTP have grown stronger. The three groups are sharing manpower and training camps in Afghanistan and conducting more lethal attacks under the banner of Tehrik-e Jihad Pakistan.
In addition, UN member states have raised concerns that IS-K’s ability to project a threat outside Afghanistan has increased. IS-K relies on networks of facilitators between Afghanistan and Türkiye capable of moving operatives to Europe.
“Da’esh core has reportedly directed operatives from Afghanistan and neighboring countries to undertake attacks abroad, while tapping into the Afghan and Central Asian diaspora communities for logistical, financial and operational support,” the UNSC report said.
The U.S. government under successive administrations failed to take the AQ-Taliban nexus seriously or simply looked the other way because acknowledging it was politically inconvenient. The U.S. may consider terrorists thriving under the Taliban as a blessing so long as the jihadists remain focused on Washington’s adversaries. But such strategies tend to backfire, and concerns are growing that America is next.