A United Nations (U.N.) Security Council released a report over the weekend which revealed a resurgence of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group in Afghanistan has occurred under the Taliban. Not only has there been a resurgence but the establishment of eight additional training camps and five madrasas, Islamic education institutions have also emerged across the country.
According to the report, Al-Qaeda training facilities are now in Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan, and Uruzgan provinces. Additionally, it outlined locations utilized by Al-Qaeda for the transit of its members to and from neighboring Iran. The report also highlighted the creation of a fresh storage facility for weapons in the Panjshir Valley, north of the capital city, Kabul. Facilities for suicide bombers have also been established within Kunar Province.
“The group maintains safe houses to facilitate the movement between Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the provinces of Herat, Farah, and Helmand, with additional safe house locations in Kabul,” the Security Council’s report read.
Silvia Boltuc, managing director and founder of Special Eurasia, a geopolitical and business intelligence platform, said that there has “been a notable escalation in terrorist attacks, from roadside and suicide bombs to rocket and mortar fire, direct fire, kidnappings, and violent crimes.”
Boltuc mentioned that the Islamic State Khorasan Province, a local offshoot of the radical Islamic State (ISL) organization, has participated in persistent conflicts aimed at ethnic minority communities and governmental institutions. Additionally, various extremist factions like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and its splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar have been operational within the nation.
Foreign Desk News notes that following the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban have reinstated strict Sharia Islamic law against the Afghan people, undoing many of the rights Afghan women once had and punishing Afghan civilians who helped American forces following the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
