The US has killed or captured approximately 250 al Qaeda and al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent leaders and members in Afghanistan in 2016. US officials have downplayed the extent of al Qaeda’s presence in the country for years. After the raids this year, US intelligence should prepare a fresh assessment.
Al Qaeda claims that two of Ayman al Zawahiri’s daughters and a third woman were exchanged for the son of Ashfaq Pervez Kayani in either late July or early August. The Long War Journal cannot independently verify the claim, but it is known that al Qaeda had been trying to exchange at least one kidnapped son of Pakistan’s elite for the women. Al Qaeda announced that the women and their children were released in early August.
The US government and intelligence services have consistently underestimated the strength of AQIS, which is an official branch of al Qaeda that is based in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.
AQIS quickly claimed responsibility for the murder of a prominent LGBT activist, Xulhaz Mannan, and his friend in Bangladesh. Mannan worked for USAID and previously worked for the US Embassy for eight years. AQIS has targeted alleged “blasphemers” in Bangladesh as part of a campaign authorized by Ayman al Zawahiri.
In an interview with the Washington Post, General John Campbell described an al Qaeda camp in southern Afghanistan as “probably the largest training camp-type facility that we have seen in 14 years of war.” The camp is one of two raided by joint US-Afghan forces in Kandahar earlier this month.
The White House says that two hostages, including an American, were killed in a counterterrorism “operation” in January. The two perished in an attack that also killed Ahmed Farouq, a prominent al Qaeda leader. Declassified documents recovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound identified a jihadist by that name as an up and coming leader. Adam Gadahn, an American al Qaeda spokesman, was also killed in a separate operation.
The spokesman for al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has released a statement condemning the Pakistani Taliban’s attack on a Peshawar school earlier this week, calling it “un-Islamic.”
Usama Mahmood, the spokesman for al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), has released a statement calling on all jihadists to unite against the US-led coalition, which is bombing targets throughout Iraq and Syria.
Al Qaeda released its new English-language, online magazine “Resurgence” earlier this week. At 117 pages, the magazine covers a number of themes, but it focuses on the Indian Subcontinent more than any other region.
Sheikh Imran Ali Siddiqi, a senior official in al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), was killed in a US drone strike earlier this month. After 9/11, Imran founded Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al-Almi (HUMA), an al Qaeda-linked group thought to be responsible for an attack on the US Consulate in Karachi and other Western interests.
Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the newest branch of al Qaeda’s international network, has released a nine-page statement giving its version of the attacks on two Pakistani frigates on Sept. 6. AQIS claims that all of the operatives, except one, were “serving officers in the Pakistani Navy.”
AQIS has claimed two attacks in Pakistan. On Sept. 2, the group assassinated a Pakistani officer. An AQIS spokesman claims that the group attempted to take over a docked Pakistani ship on Sept. 6 and fire missiles at American warships.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has congratulated its “brothers” in al Qaeda for creating a new branch in the Indian subcontinent. AQAP offers “special congratulations” to “our Sheikh and good Emir,” Ayman al Zawahiri.
Usama Mahmoud, AQIS’s spokesman, openly stated that the group “was formed by the gathering of several jihadi groups that have a long history in jihad and fighting.”