International armed groups setting their sights on Afghanistan: A creeping metamorphosis

Despite apparent differences with the United States on many issues, Russia, China and Iran appear to share Washington’s concerns about terrorist threats emanating from Afghanistan as they call on the de facto Taliban regime to keep its anti-terrorism promises.

US officials said alleged terrorist groups based in Afghanistan have planned and carried out attacks against Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. More than 20 armed groups now claim a presence in the Afghan state.

Of particular concern is active presence in Afghanistan of the Pakistani Taliban, an insurgent group that has claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks in Pakistan in recent months, according to the USwork VOA.

Senior diplomats from Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan met in Tashkent last week to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

“Participants, noting that all terrorist groups based in Afghanistan continue to pose a serious threat to regional and global security, have strongly urged the current Afghan de facto authorities to take more effective measures to eliminate terrorist groups in the country,” it said. in a note. of the Uzbek Foreign Ministry.

Thomas West, US special representative for Afghanistan, told Tolonews last week: “Although the Taliban has pledged not to harbor terrorists who want to harm other countries and not to allow the training, recruitment or collection of funds on their territory, all this is happening.”

In negotiating the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2019-2020, the Taliban pledged to act swiftly, in areas under their control, against groups and individuals who threaten the security of any country.

Experts say the Taliban now runs a country with porous borders with six neighbors, no standing army, under international sanctions and unable to meet US and regional counterterrorism expectations. “Everyone can see the Pakistani Taliban taking refuge in Afghanistan and attack Pakistan,” said Graeme Smith, an expert on international crises at the ICG.

Domestic terrorism

The Taliban deny harboring terrorist groups inside Afghanistan and affirm their commitment to preventing threats to the security of other countries. Despite downplaying the ongoing threats from the Islamic State’s so-called Khorasan Province (ISKP) and other armed opposition groups as insignificant and manageable, the Taliban have largely failed to prevent terrorist attacks inside Afghanistan.

Last week, the Taliban governor in the northern province of Balkh was killed in a suicide attack claimed by ISIS. In December, ISIS announced the killing of a district political official in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, and both the Taliban and ISIS say they are in war with each other.

The United Nations has reported that under the Taliban, the Islamic State has targeted religious minorities and other vulnerable groups, killing hundreds in all of Afghanistan last year.

The head of the United Nations said in a report to the Security Council that between Nov. 14 and Jan. 31 “the United Nations recorded 1,201 maternity-related incidents, an increase of 10 per cent from the 1,088 incidents recorded during the same period in 2021-2022” on March 8.

Al Qaeda

For nearly three decades, the United States has expressed concern about the presence of al Qaeda militants and its leaders in Afghanistan, where they have plotted attacks against American interests in Worldwide.

In pursuit of al-Qaeda leaders, US invaded Afghanistan after 9/11 attacks and pledged in what is being billed as the longest foreign war in US history. Last year, a US drone strike killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul.

Dodging the blame for harboring al-Zawahiri in In violation of their promises to fight terrorism, the Taliban are refusing to confirm that the al-Qaeda leader was actually found and killed in Kabul.

Al Qaeda has also yet to announce its new leader due to “sensitivity to the Afghan Taliban’s fears that it will not recognize Zawahiri’s death in Kabul,” according to a United Nations report in February.

US officials say al Qaeda’s new leader, Saif al-Adel, a former Egyptian special forces officer, is in Iran, a claim that Tehran denies.

While the US and the Taliban accuse each other of violating parts of the agreement their representatives signed in February 2020 in Doha, in Qatar, it is not clear how the two sides should handle the differences and the consequences that could arise from the violation of the Agreement.

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