-
Afghan national pleads guilty over Islamic State-inspired terror plot in US
Abdullah Haji Zada, an 18-year-old legal permanent resident living in Oklahoma, pled guilty to conspiring to receive firearms intended for an election-day terrorist attack on behalf of the Islamic State. Six other individuals have been detained for their connection to the Islamic State since Zada’s arrest, underscoring a persistent threat to the US.
-
Analysis: US removal of Sirajuddin Haqqani’s $10 million bounty signals engagement with the Taliban
With the return of former American Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalizad to negotiations in Afghanistan and the Trump administration’s decision to remove Sirajuddin Haqqani’s bounty, the Trump administration may be continuing its previous policy of engagement with the Taliban.
-
Anti-Taliban groups conclude fifth Vienna Conference
Over 90 former leaders of the previous Afghan government, civil society representatives, and anti-Taliban resistance leaders attended the conference at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs and called for help forming a transitional government.
-
Turkistan Islamic Party leader directs Syrian fighters from Afghanistan
Abdul Haq al Turkistani currently operates from Kabul while directing his fighters in Syria. Haq’s presence in Afghanistan directly contradicts the Taliban’s claims that no foreign fighters operate or are based in the country and that Afghanistan isn’t a headquarters for terrorist groups.
-
Pakistani and Tajik Taliban open training camps in Afghanistan
The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan is operating training camps in four Afghan provinces, while Jamaat Ansarullah is operating camps in two more. Both groups continue to receive support from the Afghan Taliban and Al Qaeda.
-
Turkistan Islamic Party uses video from Syria to encourage jihad in China
The Turkistan Islamic Party is an Al Qaeda branch that fights under the banner of Hayat Tahrir al Sham, the Salafist jihadist terror group that led the overthrow of the Assad regime and is forming a new Syrian government.
-
Taliban’s minister of refugees killed in suicide attack in Kabul
Khalil al Rahman Haqqani was the uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s minister of interior and one of the group’s two deputy emirs, and a brother of the late Jalaluddin Haqqani, the founder of the Haqqani Network. Khalil was a US Specially Designated Global Terrorist who had “acted on behalf of” Al Qaeda’s military.
-
Analysis: The Afghanistan Freedom Front Steps into the Spotlight
The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF), led by former Afghan Armed Forces Chief of General Staff Yasin Zia, is increasing the scope and lethality of its attacks. While the AFF is still in its infancy, Zia’s battlefield experience bodes well for its future.
-
Analysis: When did the US lose Afghanistan?
Three years after the fall of Afghanistan, American politicians, policymakers, generals, and foreign policy “experts” can’t admit we lost the war. If they did, they would have to own their role in that failure.
-
Analysis: The “bonds are close” as the Pakistani Taliban benefits from its Afghan safe haven
The United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team reports that “the bonds are close” between the Afghan Taliban and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban trains at Al Qaeda camps and has received high-tech weapons systems from the Afghan Taliban
-
Analysis: Al Qaeda expands its network of training camps in Afghanistan
The United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team reports that Al Qaeda is operating training camps in two new Afghan provinces: Kandahar and Takhar. The terrorist group now operates training camps in 12 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Additionally, the Monitoring Team notes that Al Qaeda “still uses Afghanistan as a permissive haven under the Taliban.”
-
Turkish charity leaders meet with Taliban officials
A recent meeting between Turkish aid organization representatives and the Taliban’s deputy prime minister highlights renewed economic and investment interest by Turkish entities in Afghanistan. The Taliban’s growing ties with Turkey are a worrying development as Afghanistan remains a haven for terrorists and narco-state.
-
Analysis: Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani becomes a statesman
After meeting the ruler of the UAE, Sirajuddin Haqqani traveled to Saudi Arabia to attend the Hajj. His travel was approved by the international community. Official recognition is almost certainly to follow.
-
U.S. offers $5 million reward for member of Al Qaeda’s top leadership council
Hamza al Ghamdi is a legacy Al Qaeda leader who fought alongside Osama bin Laden against the Soviets, led bin Laden’s bodyguard, organized terror attacks in Tajikistan in the 1990s, and fought at the battle of Tora Bora. He is currently a member of Al Qaeda’s shura, or executive leadership council. Ghamdi is likely based in Afghanistan or Iran.
-
ISKP’s transnational reemergence
Leveraging its stronghold in Afghanistan and networks across Central and South Asia, ISKP is surging as a formidable transnational actor, posing a threat from Asia to Europe. The Taliban’s self-portrayal as a counterforce to ISKP raises concerns about their true motives and the perpetuation of regional instability.
-
Al Qaeda leader calls foreign fighters to Afghanistan
Sayf al-Adl, who is thought to be al Qaeda’s current leader, calls on supporters around the world to migrate to Afghanistan to gain training, experience, and knowledge before undertaking attacks against so-called “Zionist” and Western targets around the world.
-
Nascent Afghan resistance grows in strength but not a threat to Taliban rule
The anti-Taliban resistance is gaining strength and conducting more attacks on the Taliban regime. However, these groups lack cohesion, outside support, and a safe haven. Until those requirements are met, they will lack the strength to be a formidable challenger to Taliban rule.
-
Opium protests catalyze anti-Taliban sentiments
Afghanistan has grappled with a surge in terrorism, deepening ethnic rifts, protests, and the devastating impact of natural calamities in recent weeks. Two years into their control of Afghanistan, the Taliban is struggling to govern as a state actor.
-
Architect of Doha agreement wrongly claims: ‘Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent has been dismantled’
Zalmay Khalilzad, the former Special Repressive for Afghanistan Reconciliation and the key architect of the Doha Agreement, continues to maintain that the Taliban “dismantled” Al Qaeda, despite evidence to the contrary from the UN and CENTCOM.
-
Pakistani military, Afghan Taliban exchange fire along the border
Whatever disputes the Pakistani state has with the Taliban, it is unlikely that its strategic depth with respect to India and strategic relations with the Taliban will be discarded for the lives of hundreds of Pakistani citizens.
-
Al Qaeda opens 8 new training camps, 5 madrasas, and a facilitation network to Iran in Afghanistan
Al Qaeda continues to build its network and infrastructure in Afghanistan after the fall of the Afghan government. Al Qaeda opened eight new training camps, five madrasas, a weapons depot and safe houses in Afghanistan that are used to facilitate the movement of its members to and from Iran.
-
Generation Jihad Ep. 123 — The Afghanistan affliction
Bill is joined by Stu Velasco and Zach Popp of The Boardwalk Podcast (also hosted by Kyle Reynolds who couldn’t make it, shoutout Kyle Reynolds) to discuss the trials and tribulations of their time in service to the U.S. during the long war.
-
Generation Jihad Ep. 120 — Yes, al Qaeda is still a threat
In a slight detour from our Israel coverage, Bill and Caleb are joined by counterterrorism expert Sara Harmouch to discuss her recent article that sounds like it was written for Long War Journal but was actually written for War on the Rocks, called “Al-Qaeda: A Defeated Threat? Think Again.” They debunk the latest example of President Biden’s insistence that al Qaeda no longer has a presence in Afghanistan and discuss how U.S. rejection of intelligence is neither new nor at odds with its dangerous habit of disconnecting dots pertaining not least of all to al Qaeda.
-
Testimony – Go-to-Zero: Joe Biden’s withdrawal order and the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan
Bill Roggio testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability, on the order to withdraw from Afghanistan and the impact on the Afghan government and security forces.
-
On eve of 9/11 Anniversary, U.S. officials continue to downplay Al Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan
After nearly two decades of abysmal assessments from U.S. intelligence officials and policy makers on Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, the latest claims that the terror group is “at its historical nadir” should be taken with more than a grain of salt.
-
Two years after U.S. withdrawal, the Taliban enjoys an iron-fisted grip on Afghanistan
The Afghan people continue to suffer as the Taliban consolidates its power. Meanwhile, the Taliban’s support for Al Qaeda, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and a number of regional terror groups grows.
-
Taliban again denies TTP presence in Afghanistan
The Afghan Taliban continues to claim that there are no foreign terror groups operating inside their country, despite all evidence to the contrary. The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has an extensive footprint in Afghanistan.
-
Fact Check: President Biden’s claim Al Qaeda is not in Afghanistan is demonstrably false
“I said Al Qaeda would not be there,” President Biden said about Afghanistan. “I said we’d get help from the Taliban… I was right.” Except Al Qaeda is indeed in Afghanistan and is receiving support from the Taliban.
-
Afghan Taliban and Al Qaeda aiding Pakistani Taliban’s insurgency
The Afghan Taliban has vehemently objected to the lest UN report, as it punches gaping holes into the Taliban’s narrative that it does not shelter and support foreign terror groups. However, the presence of the TTP, Al Qaeda and a host of other terror groups in Afghanistan is undeniable.
-
Generation Jihad Ep. 94 — Al Qaeda has key roles in Taliban’s Afghanistan
Bill welcomes back to the show Generation Jihad regular Ambassador Edmund Fitton-Brown. Now a member of the Counter Extremism Project’s advisory board, Edmund previously served as the UK’s Ambassador to Yemen and later as the coordinator of the U.N. Security Council’s Sanctions Monitoring Team. Edmund’s former team at the U.N. just released its latest report on Afghanistan which details (among other troubling issues) just how embedded al Qaeda is in Afghanistan’s Taliban government. Bill and Edmund dissect the report’s findings.
