WASHINGTON: Al-Qaida in Indian Sub-continent (AQIS) recruit personnel fromremote areas of India and Bangladesh, and nearly 180 operatives of thegroup work as advisers and trainers of the Taliban in southern and easternAfghanistan, a UN monitoring committee report has said.

According to the 21st report of the ISIL (Daesh) and al-Qaida/TalibanMonitoring Team, which was established by the UN Security Council, al-Qaidacontinues to cooperate with the Taliban in return for sanctuary andoperating space.

Al-Qaida leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri is still assumed to be in theAfghanistan-Pakistan border region, said the report dated January 26, whichwas made public last week.

The report said that fighters of AQIS operate as advisers and trainers ofthe Taliban, with 150 to 180 operatives present in southern and easternAfghanistan. They recruit personnel from remote areas of India andBangladesh, it said.

And despite concerns expressed by some countries, the report said it wasnot clear that significant numbers of al-Qaida elements ultimatelytravelled to Syria to join the fight.

According to the report, one country expressed concern about thevulnerability of the Maldives to returnees, since the number of Maldivianfighters per capita is one of the highest in the world.

Notably the travel of new foreign terrorist fighters from Central and SouthAsia to the conflict zones has virtually ceased, initially because ofmeasures taken by countries, but later by the lack of appetite or capacityon the part of the ISIL core to receive new foreign terrorist fighters, thereport said.

The report said that fighters loyal to the Taliban combined with members ofvarious al-Qaida affiliated groups could number as many as 60,000 fighters,an increase from 2016.

Currently, there are more than 20 groups active in the war-torn country.The Taliban remains the largest, with about 40,000 to 45,000 fighters.

The others are ISIL in Afghanistan and a range of al-Qaida affiliatedentities, including TTP, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), Lashkar i Jhangvi (LJ),Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), Jundullah, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement(ETIM), and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistanlink> or IMU.

The number of foreign fighters currently operating in Afghanistan isestimated to be between 10,000 and 15,000.

However, despite having been further degraded by Afghan and internationalmilitary operations, ISIL continues to resist and mount attacks, especiallyin Kabul. In some areas, it is in violent competition with the Taliban; inothers there appears to be some mutual accommodation, it said.