The al-Qaeda terrorist organization is having a resurgence in Afghanistan under the ruling Taliban, setting up eight new training camps alongside five madrasas, Islamic educational institutions, around the country, a report from the UN Security Council in late January has revealed.
The report said that the training camps are located in various provinces, including Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan, and Uruzgan. It also listed sites used by al-Qaeda to move its operatives in and out of neighboring Iran, and said that a new base to stockpile weaponry has been established in the Panjshir Valley, north of the capital, Kabul.
"The group maintains safe houses to facilitate the movement between Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the provinces of Herat, Farah, and Helmand, with additional safe house locations in Kabul," the report said.
"This accommodation of al-Qaeda within Afghanistan has validated longstanding fears voiced by many observers regarding the country once again becoming a safe haven for terrorist organizations under Taliban rule," Shahin Modarres, an international security analyst specializing in Iran affiliated with the Center for Middle East and Global Order think tank, told The Media Line.
Modarres said that al-Qaeda and the Taliban, which retook rule over Afghanistan in 2021 as US-led coalition forces left the country, have a shared history of collaboration and ideological alignment. He said that throughout their insurgency against the coalition forces, both organizations maintained deep-seated ties rooted in a common jihadist worldview and mutual support for each other's objectives.
Al-Qaeda resurfaces in Afghanistan with new training camps, schools - The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
The report said that the training camps are located in various provinces, including Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan, and Uruzgan. It also listed sites used by al-Qaeda to move its operatives in and out of neighboring Iran, and said that a new base to stockpile weaponry has been established in the Panjshir Valley, north of the capital, Kabul.
"The group maintains safe houses to facilitate the movement between Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the provinces of Herat, Farah, and Helmand, with additional safe house locations in Kabul," the report said.
"This accommodation of al-Qaeda within Afghanistan has validated longstanding fears voiced by many observers regarding the country once again becoming a safe haven for terrorist organizations under Taliban rule," Shahin Modarres, an international security analyst specializing in Iran affiliated with the Center for Middle East and Global Order think tank, told The Media Line.
Modarres said that al-Qaeda and the Taliban, which retook rule over Afghanistan in 2021 as US-led coalition forces left the country, have a shared history of collaboration and ideological alignment. He said that throughout their insurgency against the coalition forces, both organizations maintained deep-seated ties rooted in a common jihadist worldview and mutual support for each other's objectives.
Al-Qaeda resurfaces in Afghanistan with new training camps, schools - The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
