Al-Qaeda continues to
enjoy the “patronage” of the Taliban despite the theocratic group's
claims that there are no terrorist groups in Afghanistan, a specialized
United Nations team assessed, with the new UN report warning about a
“multipolar” threat posed by jihadist groups worldwide.
The UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team released a new February report on Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and other jihadist groups. The UN sanctions monitoring team said
that “the Afghan de facto authorities” — the Taliban — “claimed that
there were no terrorist groups within its borders,” but the UN experts
stressed that “no Member State supported this view.”
Al-Qaeda was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on U.S. soil, as well as a host of other murderous attacks worldwide.
Safe haven for terrorists
The Taliban gave al-Qaeda safe haven
in Afghanistan before 9/11 and continued to protect al-Qaeda and fight
alongside it for two decades after the U.S. invasion. The Taliban, the
Taliban’s Haqqani Network, and al-Qaeda remain deeply intertwined in Afghanistan.
“Regional countries remained concerned about the number of
terrorist groups in Afghanistan and its spillover effects, including
cross-border attacks and the radicalization of vulnerable domestic
communities,” the U.N. team said in its new report.
The Taliban conducted a lightning-fast takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 and swept into the Afghan capital of Kabul in mid-August of that year. President Biden's haphazard, chaotic and deadly
evacuation operation was conducted through Hamid Karzai International
Airport while the U.S. military naively relied upon the hostile Taliban –
including the Haqqani Network – to provide security outside the airport.
Watchdog reports
have shown the U.S. government continued to send billions to
Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, with the Taliban skimming
millions in taxes. Just the News recently reported on how Congress is moving toward banning all U.S. funding for the Taliban.
The U.N. team also warned in its new report
that the threat from Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (abbreviated as
ISIL in the U.N. report) is “multipolar and increasingly complex” and
that “it intensified in multiple theaters, notably in West Africa and
the Sahel, and in South Asia.” The report also warned that “there were
growing concerns about the exploitation of commercial satellite
communications by terrorist groups and their increasing proficiency in
using artificial intelligence.”
Al-Qaeda acts as a “service provider” for other Afghan terrorist groups
The U.N. team said
that “Al-Qaeda's status and strength remained unchanged from that
reported in the previous report of the Monitoring Team” — meaning the
terrorist group remained under the radar but resilient — “and its
appetite for external operations undiminished.”
“Al-Qaeda continued to enjoy the patronage of the de facto authorities,” the U.N. team said.
“It acted as a service provider and multiplier for other terrorist
groups in Afghanistan in terms of training and advice, principally to”
the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan — dubbed the TTP or Pakistani Taliban.
The report also said
that Al-Qaeda’s “focus was on ‘spectacular’ attacks aimed at attracting
notoriety and global media coverage, rather than the lower
sophistication attacks favored by” the Islamic State and its ISIS-K
branch in Afghanistan.
The Taliban “continues to host and support the group,” the UN team also said of al-Qaeda late last year, and “senior al-Qaeda commanders are reported to be living in Kabul.”
The U.N. experts said
in the new report that Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) — the
terrorist group’s main node in South Asia — “remained active in
south-eastern Afghanistan, where the Haqqani Network exerts considerable
influence.” The report said
that AQIS Emir Osama Mahmoud and AQIS deputy Yahya Ghauri “were
reported to be in Kabul” while the media cell of AQIS was based in the
Afghan city of Herat.
“There were concerns that AQIS was increasingly focused on external operations,” the UN team said.
“Such operations would likely be unclaimed or deniable operations,
perhaps as part of the umbrella group Ittihad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan
(which declared itself in April) so as not to create difficulties for
the Taliban as hosts of AQIS.”
Sayf al-Adel is believed by the FBI to be the current de-facto head
of al-Qaeda, and the UN team previously assessed his “strategy to
reorganize Al-Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan and reactivate sleeper
cells in Iraq, Libya, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Europe to be
indicative of the group’s longer-term intent to carry out external
operations.”
He is currently believed to be based in Iran, and the UN monitoring team assessed
in 2024 that “several Member States noted individuals travelling to
provide liaison between” al-Adel in Iran “and senior al-Qaeda figures in
Afghanistan.”
Sayf al-Adel called upon
terrorists and al-Qaeda members in the summer of 2024 to travel to the
safe haven of Afghanistan to have their terror skills honed by the
Taliban: “The loyal people of the Ummah [worldwide Islamic community]
interested in change must go to Afghanistan, learn from its conditions,
and benefit from their [the Taliban’s] experience.”
The U.N. monitoring team said in a prior report
that at least three key leaders in the Taliban’s ruling government were
“affiliated” or “associated” with al-Qaeda, stating that two Taliban
provincial governors were “affiliated” with al-Qaeda while the Taliban’s
deputy director of intelligence was also “associated” with al-Qaeda.
The U.N. team had also previously assessed
that “Al-Qaeda members have received appointments and advisory roles in
the Taliban security and administrative structures” because of the
Taliban, and that “interlocutors confirmed that the Taliban provided
al-Qaeda with monthly ‘welfare payments,’ with portions of those
payments filtered down to fighters of al-Qaeda affiliated groups.”
Taliban interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani is also closely linked to al-Qaeda. The U.N. report also said
that Sirajuddin’s ministry “continued its distribution of Afghan
passports and tazkiras (national identity cards) to al-Qaeda members
with advisory roles in main Afghan cities.”
Just the News previously reported on how the Trump administration has lifted bounties on a number of key Haqqani Taliban leaders. Sirajuddin remains on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” List.
Pakistani Taliban given “permissive environment” by Afghan Taliban
The Taliban also “continued to provide a permissive
environment for a range of terrorist groups, notably Tehrik-e Taliban
Pakistan,” according to the new UN report, which said that “the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan remained a source of concern.”
The report said
that the Taliban “continued to act against” ISIS-K and to “control the
external activities of some other groups,” but that the Pakistani
Taliban — “was accorded greater liberty and support from the de facto
authorities, and consequently TTP attacks against Pakistan increased,
amplifying regional tensions.”
The U.N. team said
that “there was an increase in attacks in Pakistan launched by TTP in
Afghanistan, which led to military exchanges” and that “regional
relations remained fragile.”
“TTP operates as one of the largest terrorist groups in
Afghanistan and its attacks on Pakistani security forces and State
structures led to military confrontation,” the UN team assessed. “Attacks were increasingly complex and, at times, involved large numbers of fighters.”
The U.N. report also said
that “some Member States expressed concern that TTP may deepen its
cooperation with Al-Qaeda-aligned groups in order to attack a wider
range of targets, potentially resulting in an extraregional threat.”
A report from the UN team also stated
late last year that the TTP “has conducted numerous high-profile
attacks in Pakistan from Afghan soil” and that “continued Taliban
harboring of TTP leadership in Afghanistan and its ongoing facilitation
of TTP operations have brought relations to a critical point.”
ISIS-K remains a threat in Afghanistan despite “significant pressure”
The UN team also warned that ISIS-K remained resilient in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the region.
“ISIL-K was under significant pressure, mostly from
security operations of regional States and military actions by the
Taliban,” the UN report found.
“While there were fewer attacks, it retained significant operational
and combat capability and the ability to rapidly replace fighters,
including through online recruitment. The pressure campaign pushed
ISIL-K to search for alliances with other armed factions in different
areas in Afghanistan.”
The UN team argued
that “ISIL-K was active mainly in northern Afghanistan, particularly
Badakhshan, and areas close to the Pakistani border. It continued to
develop its network of cells to project a threat regionally and beyond.”
The report said
that “aggressive propaganda by ISIL-K in Central Asian languages
expanded its target audience” and that “it sought to exploit issues such
as the Gaza and Israel conflict to promote recruitment and financing,”
and that late last year that the Taliban has "suppressed – although not
eliminated – the threat from” ISIS-K, noting that ISIS-K “continues to
pose serious threats within Afghanistan, regionally and beyond.”
The analytic team added
that some member states believe that ISIS-K “maintains opportunistic
links to TTP, as well as to disillusioned elements within the Taliban”
and that the level of ISIS-K “infiltration” into the Taliban structure
is “considered to be extensive.”
The jihad makes gains in Africa, Middle East, cyberspace, and elsewhere
The U.N. team also examined the broader jihadist picture across the globe. The report found
that “the leadership of Al-Qaeda remained cohesive, though isolated”
and that “dissatisfaction among the rank-and-file with the de facto
leadership of Sayf al-Adl continued.” Yet the U.N. said that
“nevertheless, Al-Qaeda retained the ambition to carry out 'spectacular'
external attacks.”
“Partly as a result of the Al-Qaeda senior leadership’s
isolation, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – under its leader, Saad
ben Atef al-Awlaki – appeared to be increasingly asserting its
ideological and operational leadership of the global Al-Qaeda network,”
the U.N. team found. “The
external threat AQAP posed was assessed to be increasing, though it
remained opportunistic. It was bolstered by support from Al-Shabaab and
facilitated, to a lesser extent, by opportunistic collaboration with the
Houthis.”
The report said that Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin — al-Qaeda’s branch in Mali
— “continued to expand the territory under its control and instituted a
fuel blockade” around Mali’s capital of Bamako. The U.N. said that the
al-Qaeda affiliate “carried out its first attack in Nigeria” and that
“its coffers were said to have been swollen by proceeds from kidnapping
for ransom, including reports of a single ransom payment of around $50
million.”
The U.N.report also said
that “elements from Al-Qaeda-aligned Hurras al-Din were active” in
Syria and “their allegiance to the global agenda of Al-Qaeda remained
undiminished.” The U.N. report said
that the Islamic State’s “focus on parts of Africa continued to
increase.” The team said that ISIS activities in Somalia “were
constrained by sustained counter-terrorism pressure” but that
“nevertheless, it remained resilient.”
The report said that ISIS-K also “continued to seek to undermine the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic.”
“ISIL cells remained active across the Syrian Arab
Republic. Attacks targeted security forces, particularly in the
north-east,” the U.N. team found.
“ISIL attempted to provoke sectarian tensions in order to undermine the
Government. The President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ahmad Al-Sharaa,
was also a priority target.”
The U.N. report also warned about jihadist groups seeking to expand their abilities in cyberspace.
“Both ISIL and Al-Qaeda continued their efforts to build
cybercapabilities, including by appealing to cyberexperts to join their
ranks,” the report found.
“In August, Cyber Jihad Movement, an established hacker group, pledged
its allegiance to Sayf al-Adl, thereby potentially increasing Al-Qaeda
cybercapabilities.”
The U.N. added:
“There was a discernible increase in the effective use of new
technology. Terrorist groups exploited commercial satellite
communication systems, which enabled cheap, fast and relatively secure
communication in remote areas. They also demonstrated greater
proficiency in the use of artificial intelligence, primarily in
propaganda; they were increasingly adept at seamlessly integrating
artificial intelligence tools and visual effects into their efforts to
radicalize and recruit.”
“The Taliban use detainees as leverage in negotiations”
Ambassador Tammy Bruce, the U.S. Deputy Representative to the U.N., spoke
in New York City last week about “the vital role of the Monitoring Team
and the role that it plays in promoting peace and stability in
Afghanistan.” Bruce highlighted that the U.N. Security Council “also
strongly condemned hostage taking, which the Taliban continue to use as
an insurgent tactic of hostage diplomacy” and noted that “the Taliban
use detainees as leverage in negotiations, against the United States and
other countries.”
The U.S. diplomat said that “in exchange for the Americans
currently detained, the Taliban have openly sought the release of an
al-Qaida operative detained in Guantánamo Bay, while paradoxically
promising to uphold their counterterrorism commitments.”
The Taliban continues to hold multiple Americans hostage in Afghanistan. CBS News reported
last month that “Monday marks one year since Dennis Coyle, a
64-year-old academic from Colorado, was taken by force from his Kabul
apartment by the Taliban” and that “his abduction came just six days
after another American, Ryan Corbett, was released at the start of
President Trump's second term.”
The New York Times further reported
last month that “the Taliban say they have only two” U.S. hostages —
“identified by U.S. officials” as Coyle “and Polynesis Jackson, a former
U.S. Army soldier whose reasons for being in the country remain murky.”
The news outlet also reported that Taliban officials “say
they do not know the whereabouts of a third U.S. citizen, Mahmood
Habibi, who the FBI says was arrested in Afghanistan in 2022 shortly
after the CIA killed Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda’s leader, in Kabul.” The
Times said the men who seized Habibi “said they were from the Taliban’s intelligence services.”
“The Taliban must end all forms of hostage-taking and wrongful detentions,” Bruce said
last week. “The U.N. 1988 sanctions regime and its Monitoring Team
remain critical tools for the international community to hold the
Taliban accountable, including for these deplorable tactics.”
Abbey Gate bombing co-conspirator slated for trial
An ISIS-K bomber named Abdul Rahman al-Logari — who had
been freed by the Taliban from a prison at Bagram Air Base in mid-August
2021 only weeks after the U.S. abandoned the base — has been identified
as having carried out a partially successful suicide attack at Abbey
Gate. That murder spree killed 13 U.S. service members and an estimated
170 Afghan civilians while wounding dozens of other U.S. troops and
scores of Afghans in the crowd, on August 26, 2021.
President Donald Trump announced
in March last year that the U.S. had extradited one of the ISIS-K
terrorists responsible for the Abbey Gate attack at the Karzai airport.
Mohammad Sharifullah, captured with the help of Pakistani intelligence,
was extradited to the U.S. last month. The FBI said that Sharifullah confessed to being involved in “route reconnaissance” in the lead-up to the attack.
The U.N. monitoring team said
in 2020 that some countries noted that most ISIS-K attacks include
“involvement, facilitation, or the provision of technical assistance” by
the Haqqani Network, and that ISIS-K “lacked the capability to launch
complex attacks in Kabul on its own” without Haqqani help. The team also
said it had “viewed communication intercepts in the wake of attacks
that were claimed by ISIS-K that were traceable to known members of the
Haqqani Network.”
The team also said
that “some countries “have reported tactical or commander-level
collaboration between ISIL-K and the Haqqani Network.” According to Arab
News, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that “we strongly reject this propaganda” and that “we have nothing in common (and don’t operate cells) with Daesh [ISIS-K].”
Sanaullah Ghafari, the head of ISIS-K, still has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head. West Point’s Counterterrorism Center published an article
in 2022 stating that Ghafari had joined “Taliban factions affiliated
with the Haqqani network” and “had close links to the Haqqani network’s
senior commanders.”
The U.N. monitoring team said
in 2021 that one nation said that Ghafari was “previously a mid-level
commander in the Haqqani Network” and that he continued to maintain
cooperation with the Haqqanis. One U.N. member state said
in June 2021 that ISIS-K leader Ghafari’s ongoing relationship with the
Haqqanis provided ISIS-K with “key expertise and access to [attack]
networks.”
Gen. Austin Scott Miller, the commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan through July 2021, told Congress in 2024 that “I could never verify a Haqqani-ISIS nexus.”
Major General Buck Elton and Captain Joshua Fruth assessed
in late 2021 that “the Taliban may have leveraged ISIS–K as a proxy
strawman layer of separation to oversee and/or facilitate the attack on
U.S. service members and Afghan civilians” at the airport.
The trial for Sharifullah, the alleged co-conspirator in the Abbey Gate attack, is scheduled for April.
