The Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda is reportedly rapidly growing in size inside of Afghanistan just a couple of years after President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from the country.
A report from the U.N. Security Council at the end of last month said that despite the Taliban’s claims, “the relationship between the Taliban and Al-Qaida remains close, and the latter maintains a holding pattern in Afghanistan under Taliban patronage.”
The report said that the Taliban is trying to hide its relationship with Al Qaeda even though many inside the Taliban share the same extreme ideology.
The report claimed that the group was not strong enough yet to start carrying out terrorist attacks overseas, but noted that the terrorist group has “established up to eight new training camps in Afghanistan, including four in Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan and Uruzgan Provinces, with a new base to stockpile weaponry in the Panjshir Valley.”
Al Qaeda has also established five madrasas, a school for Islamic indoctrination, in Laghman, Kunar, Nangarhar, Nuristan, and Parwan Provinces.
“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 report added.
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A separate report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), also released at the end of last month, said that it was unclear whether the Taliban could or was willing to stop Islamic terrorist groups inside the country from being able to conduct operations beyond its borders and from allowing foreign fighters from coming to the country to join the groups.
“The movement of weapons, ammunition, and explosives—many seized from the former U.S.-funded Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF)—remains a security concern,” the report said.
“This quarter, Al Qaeda’s general command, believed to be based in Afghanistan, released three press statements calling for attacks on American, European, and Israeli embassies and buildings globally in response to the Israel-Hamas war,” the report said, adding that while the group is rebuilding, it is committed to carrying out attacks against the West.