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Afghanistan

Taliban Keeps Close Ties with Al-Qaeda: Report

2021-02-18

[ToloNews] Taliban
Taliban

...mindless ferocity in a turban...
has kept up a close relationship with al-Qaeda despite having pledged to stop cooperating with the group, according to the head of a UN panel monitoring the insurgency reported by NBC news.

"We believe that the top leadership of al-Qaeda is still under Taliban protection," said the head of the UNB panel that tracks terrorist groups in Afghanistan.

The Taliban's association with al-Qaeda has continued even though the Taliban signed an agreement with the US a year ago that bans cooperation with or hosting of groups — and despite a public statement by Trump administration Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the Taliban had "made the break with terrorist groups."

According to the UN monitoring team's last report in January, there are 200 to 500 al-Qaeda gunnies across about 11 Afghan provinces.

"There is still clearly a close relationship between Al Qaeda and the Taliban," said Edmund Fitton-Brown, the coordinator of the UN panel responsible for tracking the Taliban and terrorist groups in Afghanistan.

The reports of the UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team are based in part on information shared by foreign governments' intelligence services.

"We believe that the top leadership of Al Qaeda is still under Taliban protection," he said.

According to the UN monitoring team's last report in January, there are 200 to 500 al-Qaeda gunnies across about 11 Afghan provinces.

Experts say untangling two groups that have lived and fought alongside each other for decades — and have even intermarried — will be difficult.

Dostum: Al Qaeda Footprint Seen in North of Afghanistan

[ToloNews] Former Vice President Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum
...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier...
on Wednesday said that there is still a presence of some top Al Qaeda affiliates in northern Afghanistan who have close ties with the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
Dostum said that Nasruddin, who is the grandson of Al Qaeda's founder the late Osama bin Laden
...... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones......
, and Saifuddin Haqqani, the son of Sirajuddin Haqqani

...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network....
, are currently in the Ghormach

...Faryab Province...

and Bala Murghab

...Badghis Province...

districts in the north.

Dostum suggested that the Taliban return to the negotiation table instead of making trips to other countries, and tthat the group will not be able to achieve victory through war.

"I want to suggest that the security forces shoot them, after this. They should no longer fire in the air. Shoot them (the Taliban) in their foreheads and their chests so that they (Taliban) can see the reaction of their deeds—in case the Taliban do not accept the peace," said Dostum.

Referring to the recent rhetoric by

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil...
, the leader of Hizb-e-Islami, Dostum said that he will not allow Hekmatyar to challenge the political system and government.

Dostum made the remarks at a ceremony commemorating the 580th death anniversary of the prominent philosopher, poet and writer Amir Ali-Shir Nava'i.

Ali Sher Nava'i was born in 1441 in the western province of Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
. He died in 1501.

During Navai's lifetime, Herat was under the rule of the Timurid Empire and it became one of the leading cultural and intellectual centers in the Moslem world.

Dostum concluded that peace will not prevail in Afghanistan without safeguarding the rights of the women and freedom of speech.

Posted by:trailing wife

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