Here we go again…
Al Qaeda opens 8 new training camps, 5 madrasas, and a facilitation network to Iran in Afghanistan
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. Additionally, “the relationship between the Taliban and Al-Qaida remains close,” the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team reported.
The presence of new Al Qaeda training camps and other infrastructure inside Afghanistan was disclosed by the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, which issued its
latest report on Afghanistan on January 29.
The eight Al Qaeda camps have been opened in the provinces of Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan and Uruzgan. “Some camps might be temporary,” the Monitoring Team noted.
Al Qaeda is now operating training camps in 10 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. In its previous report, the Monitoring Team reported that Al Qaeda was operating training camps in
Helmand, Zabul, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Badghis, and
Kunar. An Al Qaeda leader known as Hakim al-Masri is “is responsible for the training camps and conducting suicide bomber training for TTP.”
In the central province of Panjshir, the former bastion of the anti-Taliban National Resistance Front, Al Qaeda has established a new base “to stockpile weaponry.” Al Qaeda is also operating five madrasas, or religious schools, in Laghman, Kunar, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Parwan provinces.
Al Qaeda and the Iran connection
In Herat, Farah and Helmand provinces, Al Qaeda “maintains safe houses to facilitate the movement [of members] between Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” as well as safe houses in Kabul.
At least one Al Qaeda safe house in Kabul was exposed in July 2022, when the U.S.
killed Ayman al Zawahiri, the co-founder and previous emir of Al Qaeda.
Zawahiri was killed in a drone strike as he sheltered in a safe house that was run by a lieutenant of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is one of the Taliban’s two deputy emirs as well as the current interior minister.
Sirajuddin’s powerful Haqqani Network is
listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization for its close ties to Al Qaeda. Sirajuddin and many of his top lieutenants are also
labeled as Specially Designated Global Terrorists by the U.S.….