Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, the group’s top judicial officer, is the Taliban’s new emir. Siraj Haqqani, the Taliban’s military commander, remains one of the Taliban’s top two deputies. Mullah Mohammad Yaqoub, Mullah Omar’s eldest son, has been elevated to serve as a deputy to Haibatullah.
Baluchistan province has long been a major hub for the Afghan Taliban, replete with training camps, madrassa, mosques, and command and control centers. If the US does decide to step up attacks against the Taliban in Baluchistan, there is no shortage of targets.
The White House confirmed the death of Taliban emir Mullah Mansour today, two days after the group’s top leader was targeted in an unmanned airstrike in Baluchistan province.
The National Directorate of Security claimed that Taliban Mullah Mansour died in yesterday’s airstrike but the US has yet to confirm his death.
The US Treasury Department has designated 5 members of al Qaeda’s international “facilitation and fundraising” network, as well as one of the Islamic State’s “critical facilitators” in North Africa. One of the newly designated jihadists, known as Abu Sulayman al Muhajir, was as an extremist preacher in Australia before relocating to Syria and joining Al Nusrah Front.
There are now eight Islamic State branches throughout the world designated by the US as terrorist entities – Khorasan, or Afghanistan and Pakistan; the Caucasus; the Egyptian Sinai; Algeria; and Nigeria.
The latest edition of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) Inspire magazine includes an interview with ex-Guantanamo detainee Ibrahim al Qosi, as well as an article authored by Qosi. The former lieutenant to Osama bin Laden discusses al Qaeda’s formative years leading up to the 9/11 attacks.
The Afghan Taliban said it would give “top priority” to government agencies involved in the execution of jihadist prisoners and claimed it has “thousands of fully armed martyrdom seekers” at its disposal who are “awaiting to take revenge.”
Hamzah bin Laden calls for jihadist unity and says the jihad in Syria is key to “liberating” Palestine from the Jews. He says Muslims everywhere should participate in the Palestinians’ “intifada.”
Abu Ubaydah Al Lubnani was once one of al Qaeda’s top security officials. After being dismissed from his job, he joined the Islamic State. In an interview with Al Naba magazine earlier this year, Lubnani discussed al Qaeda’s relationship with Iran and the group’s early strategy for the war in Syria. An al Qaeda loyalist has responded to Lubnani’s testimony.
The unusual public call for information from USFOR-A follows the deadly suicide assault on a security installation in Kabul that took place on April 19.
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.
A Saudi-led Arab coalition has entered the Yemeni port city of Mukalla, which had been a stronghold for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) since April 2015. AQAP reportedly withdrew most of its forces from the city prior to the alliance’s advance. Mukalla is a key part of AQAP’s plan to build an Islamic emirate in Yemen.
In a video released earlier this month, the Taliban trumpeted the exchange of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five top Taliban commanders who were held at Guantanamo. The Taliban says this “achievement” was the result of its extensive operations in Afghanistan’s Paktika province.
The Hidayah Establishment for Media Production released an anti-Islamic State video on Apr. 8 in which a witness claims that the Islamic State has refused to publicly debate. The video includes an image of a letter purportedly written by Nasir al Wuhayshi, who was AQAP’s emir until his demise in June 2015. A follow up statement on Apr. 10 contained similar allegations against Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s organization.
The Defense Department announced the transfer of nine Yemeni detainees from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia on April 16. The transferred detainees include a man who was allegedly one of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards, the brother of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) current emir, and a jihadist the Obama administration determined was “too dangerous to transfer but not feasible for prosecution.”
Since 2010, the US military and intelligence services have maintained that al Qaeda had a minimal presence of 50 to 100 operatives in Afghanistan. Now a senior general in Afghanistan admits the estimate needs to be revised. The Long War Journal has warned from the beginning that the conventional estimate was wrong.
Several members of the Islamic State Khorasan Provinces’ “central council” as well as other senior and mid-level leaders based in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar have broken their oath to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and have rejoined the Taliban.
The US killed Rifai Ahmed Taha Musa in an airstrike this week. Musa first began working with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri in the 1980s and 1990s. US intelligence officials identified him as a key figure in al Qaeda’s so-called “Khorasan Group.” According to one of his former comrades, he was in Syria to promote unity between Al Nusrah Front and Ahrar al Sham.
Mullah Manan was named the head of the Taliban’s Preaching and Guidance Commission, while Mullah Yacoub is a member of the Quetta Shura and commands military operations in 15 provinces. Omar’s kin previously opposed the Taliban’s new leadership.
The US government announced the transfer of two Libyans from Guantanamo to the Republic of Senegal. Both of the men were allegedly members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and worked for al Qaeda prior to their detention. JTF-GTMO found both to be “high” risks. President Obama’s Guantanamo Review Task Force previously deemed one of them “too dangerous” to transfer.
Jihadists on social media say that Abu Firas al Suri, a veteran jihadist who served al Qaeda since the 1980s, has been killed in an airstrike in Syria. Abu Firas previously explained al Qaeda’s revolutionary approach to waging jihad, saying the group seeks to develop “erupting jihadi centers” in various Muslim-majority countries.
The jihadist group also implies that its leader, Abubakar Shekau, is still alive and leading the Islamic State West Africa after rumors of his demise.
The Treasury Department has added the Scottish-born James Alexander McLintock to the US government’s list of specially designated global terrorists. McLintock’s charity, Al Rahmah Welfare Organization (RWO), is allegedly a “front organization for al Qaeda” that has been used to fund al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Social media sites associated with McLintock and RWO have documented their operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and elsewhere.
While the AQAP commander’s statement may be technically true, it ignores the fact that jihadist groups’ local and foreign operations support each other, and both pose a threat to the West.
The Defense Department announced today that Abd al Rahman Mustafa al Qaduli, a senior Islamic State leader, has been killed. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter did not provide any details concerning how or when Qaduli met his demise. Carter said that Qaduli served the Islamic State in multiple roles and was involved in its “external operations” wing, which is responsible for planning attacks in the West.
The Jund al Tawhid Battalion makes at least three Abu Sayyaf Group battalions to have defected to the Islamic State. However, it is still unclear if the entirety of Abu Sayyaf has done so.
An al Qaeda media operative known as Shaybat al Hukama returned to Twitter on Feb. 15 after having his previous accounts suspended. Hukama has implied that Saif al Adel, a senior al Qaeda leader wanted for his alleged role in the 1998 US Embassy bombings, is in Syria to lead the fight against the Russians.
State linked Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin explosive experts Abdullah Nowbahar and Abdul Saboor to a suicide attack that was carried out by a young woman that killed 12 people in Kabul. Additionally, Saboor has been linked to a suicide attack that killed six Americans.
The creation of the Chief of Staff Committee is one way al Qaeda has ensured that it can adapt to US counterterrorism operations designed to kill key leaders and operatives.