A Uighur commander known as Abu Omar al Turkistani was killed in a US drone strike in Syria on Jan. 1. According to a jihadi biography posted online, he had a lengthy career fighting alongside al Qaeda-linked forces. He purportedly participated in the Battle of Tora Bora in late 2001.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed that attack, which killed at least 10 people and wounded scores more, under Operation Ghazi. The operation targets all factions of the Pakistani state.
Katibat Imam al Bukhari, which also operates in Syria alongside al Qaeda’s forces there, claims that four Afghan soldiers were killed in the attack.
The Taiban claimed the murder of six Red Cross workers and the abduction of two more in Jawzjan province is “the work of kidnappers.” But the group has attacked NGOs in the past.
The attack was executed by a Tajik fighter, who may have been a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan faction that merged with the Islamic State’s Khorasan province.
An estimated 15 percent of Afghanistan’s districts have slipped from the government’s control since the fall of 2015, SIGAR reported. The assessment is based on figures provided by the US military.
While promoting its Al Farouq Training Camp, a speaker said that Taliban’s ultimate goal is the establishment of a global Islamic state.
Abd al-Jalil al-Muslimi waged jihad in Afghanistan and Yemen, and had “extensive and long-standing ties to numerous al Qaeda external operations planners and terrorists” before he was killed, according tot he US military. Mohammad Habib Boussadoun al-Tunisi was an external operations leader who plotted against the West.
In what looks to be an act of desperation to distance itself from the attack, the jihadist group has now issued three separate statements of denial of involvement.
Mawlana Salimullah Khan was also the president of Pakistan’s largest confederation of Deobani seminaries and schools. His son and grandson were deported from the United States for immigration violations after the FBI linked them to an al Qaeda plot in California.
The Taliban has good reason to deny involvement in this attack, as it has used the UAE to fundraise and gather support for jihadists based in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
General Abdul Raziq, the chief of police for Kandahar who has battled the Taliban for years and has been the target of numerous assassination attempts, is pushing the idea of a “safe zone” for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
In its statement claiming credit for today’s attack, the Taliban said that “both of the attackers were from the Martyr Battalion of Islamic Emirate.” The Taliban has deliberately targeted first responders in the past.
Russia is openly advocating on behalf of the Taliban, arguing that the jihadist group should be considered a bulwark against the Islamic State’s branch in Afghanistan. But the Taliban is a bigger threat to Afghan security than Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s men, the organization remains closely allied with al Qaeda and its own extremism should not be downplayed.
The designations of Al-Muhammadia Students and LeT leaders Muhammad Sarwar and Shahid Mahmood highlight LeT’s role in international terrorism and its adeptness in using front organizations to skirt international sanctions.
In the past, the Taliban has assassinated key political and military leaders in an attempt to destabilize districts and provinces coveted by the group.
The US military announced the deaths of Bilal al Utabyi, al Qaeda’s deputy leader for eastern Afghanistan, and Wahid al-Junabi, a senior al Qaeda explosives expert. Both were killed on Oct. 23 in the airstrike that also killed Faruq al Qahtani, al Qaeda emir for eastern Afghanistan.
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.
The Taliban bring another influential wayward commander back into the fold. Mullah Abdul Razaq Akhund served as the Taliban’s interior minister and chief of police in Kabul. He also served as a member of the Quetta Shura and was an adviser to Mullah Omar.
The Afghan Special Police Force, a unit assigned to the Interior Ministry, captured an al Qaeda “financier” during a raid in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Dec. 8.
A new video from the Taliban features several images and clips of al Qaeda leaders, further demonstrating that the two remain firmly allied more than 15 years after the 9/11 hijackings.
The Taliban said 100 mujahideen have graduated from its Khalid bin Walid Camp and 50 more from its branch, the Abu Dujana Camp. The Taliban claimed that the Khalid bin Walid Camp has 12 branches throughout Afghanistan.
Al Qaeda’s general command has released a statement commenting on the “martyrdom” of Faruq al Qahtani and others. They were killed in an American airstrike on Oct. 23 in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden’s files show that Qahtani was tasked with establishing new safe havens for al Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2010, if not earlier.
The claim cannot be independently verified, but Ghorak district has been hotly contested and Taliban has overrun it in the past. Security in Kandahar province also appears to be deteriorating.
The attack is the second of its kind in the Afghan capital by the Islamic State in the past six weeks.
The Taliban denied reports that Mullah Attaullah was killed by police forces. The Afghan government has a spotty track record when reporting on the deaths of Taliban commanders.
During a congressional hearing earlier today, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified that “violent extremism” — that is, jihadism — demands more intelligence collection and analysis now “than at any other point in history.”
Afghan officials confirmed a helicopter encountered problems in Logar province, but said it “made a hard landing due to technical problems.”
The Taliban suicide bomber who killed two American soldiers and two contractors at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan’s central province of Parwan on Nov. 12 had joined the Afghan government’s “peace process” and reconciled in 2008.
The Taliban and the Islamic State have issued competing claims for attacks in Afghanistan in the past. The Taliban has had some success in shooting down US and Afghan military helicopters.