KABUL: Al-Qaeda is still “heavily embedded” within the Taliban inAfghanistan, in spite of a historic US-Taliban agreement earlier this year,a senior United Nations official has told the BBC.
Earlier this year, the US signed an agreement with the Taliban committingto withdrawing all American forces from the country by next summer if theTaliban ensured groups including al-Qaeda were not able to use Afghanterritory to plot international attacks.
But Edmund Fitton-Brown, co-ordinator of the UN’s Islamic State, Al-Qaedaand Taliban Monitoring Team, has told the BBC that the Taliban promisedal-Qaeda in the run-up to the US agreement that the two groups would remainallies.
“The Taliban were talking regularly and at a high level with al-Qaeda andreassuring them that they would honour their historic ties,” MrFitton-Brown said.
He said the relationship between al-Qaeda and the Taliban was “notsubstantively” changed by the deal struck with the US. “Al-Qaeda areheavily embedded with the Taliban and they do a good deal of militaryaction and training action with the Taliban, and that has not changed,” hesaid.
Eliminating the threat from al-Qaeda and overthrowing the Taliban regimethat had harboured them was the original basis for the US invasion ofAfghanistan, following the 9/11 attacks. At the time, President George WBush vowed to hunt the militants until there was “no place to run, or hide,or rest”.
Al-Qaeda’s strength and ability to strike the West has significantlydiminished over the past decade, but its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri isbelieved to still be based in Afghanistan along with a number of othersenior figures in the group. The Afghan intelligence services announced onSaturday they had killed Husam Abd al-Rauf, a high ranking Egyptianal-Qaeda member, in an operation in Ghazni province. Mr Fitton-Brown toldthe BBC that despite its lower profile, al-Qaeda remained “resilient” and“dangerous”.
Taliban officials have insisted that they will fully adhere to theconditions of their agreement with the US: preventing any group from usingAfghan soil as a base to plan attacks against the US and its allies. Theinsurgents say they aim only to implement an “Islamic government” withinAfghanistan, and will not pose a threat to any other country.
The Taliban has also highlighted its fight against Islamic State groupmilitants as an example of its commitment against other extremists. But theTaliban regard IS as rivals, whereas they have had a close relationshipwith al-Qaeda since that groups’ inception.
Mr Fitton-Brown said he had noted recent reports about the Talibanrequiring some foreign fighters in Afghanistan to register with them andabide by a code of conduct forbidding attacks outside Afghanistan. MrFitton-Brown said it was not yet clear whether that agreement applied toal-Qaeda, nor whether it was an “irrevocable” move toward preventingforeign militants posing a threat internationally from Afghanistan.
American officials have been vague when questioned as to whether or notthey believe the Taliban is fully complying with its commitments onal-Qaeda, often suggesting that the information is classified. AmbassadorNathan Sales, co-ordinator for counterterrorism at the US state department,told the BBC: “We expect the Taliban to honour the commitments that theymade… to end all connections with terrorist organisations in Afghanistan.We intend to continue monitoring the situation very closely to ensureactions are matching words.”
But with the Afghan conflict mired in a deadly and costly stalemate,President Trump has made clear his desire to bring US troops home as soonas possible. The number has already been reduced to about 4,500, with afurther reduction to 2,500 expected by January 2021.
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One diplomat closely observing the process told the BBC the US withdrawalplans were no longer “condition based” but “agenda based”, suggestingPresident Trump’s overriding priority is to end America’s longest-ever war.At times President Trump has appeared out of step with military advisers,recently criticising defence officials who, he said, “want to do nothingbut fight wars”.
Speaking to the BBC, Rahmatullah Andar, a former Taliban commander and nowspokesman for the Afghan government’s National Security Council, warned ofthe threat of a resurgence from al-Qaeda and other global militant groups.“The Americans might think the agreement they have signed with the Talibanwill sort everything out,” he said. “But time will prove that’s not thecase.”
Taliban officials too have often been vague when asked about theirrelationship with al-Qaeda, at times claiming the group no longer has anypresence in Afghanistan. Last year, al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent,the regional branch of the group, released a video of an ambush it carriedout against Afghan government forces in support of the Taliban.
Al-Qaeda members swear allegiance to the Emir, or leader, of the Taliban.When asked last year how the Taliban could crack down on a group thatpledges loyalty to its leader, a Taliban official in Doha claimed that thelatest oath by the leader of al-Qaeda had never been formally “accepted”.Another former Taliban figure told the BBC that the pledge of allegiancecould be considered “invalid” if al-Qaeda disobeyed Taliban orders torefrain from plotting attacks abroad.
How the Taliban’s relationship with al-Qaeda develops could determine thefuture of the Afghan peace process. The Taliban’s commitments oninternational terrorism are the most tangible demands that need to be metas part of the US-Taliban withdrawal agreement. However, the issue islikely to prove divisive, with Taliban hardliners thought to oppose anymeasures cutting their links with al-Qaeda.
It is feared the Afghan peace process is in any case losing its momentum.Despite the beginning of long delayed negotiations between the Taliban andan Afghan government-led delegation last month in Qatar, violence hascontinued and even intensified in recent weeks.
The negotiations have stalled amid attempts to resolve preliminary issues,with major issues such as a ceasefire or power-sharing arrangement yet tobe discussed. There are fears that if US troops are withdrawn next year,before an agreement has been reached, the violence could intensify and theTaliban push for a military victory.
Mr Fitton-Brown warned that, were the peace process to fall apart, al-Qaedaand the Islamic State group could attempt to further exploit “ungovernedspace” in Afghanistan.
“Both of those groups have an avowed aspiration to pose an internationalthreat,” he said. (BBC News)
