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Al Qaeda is operating training camps in the Afghan provinces of Kandahar and Takhar, the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team reported. These facilities are in addition to those located in 10 other provinces that the Monitoring Team identified over the past year. Additionally, the Monitoring Team notes that Al Qaeda still uses Afghanistan as a permissive haven under the Taliban.

The Monitoring Team disclosed the presence of new Al Qaeda training camps in its latest 1267 report on Afghanistan on July 10.

Al Qaeda now operates training camps in 12 of Afghanistans 34 provinces. In its previous two reports, the Monitoring Team reported that Al Qaeda had camps in Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan, Uruzgan,Helmand, Zabul, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Badghis, andKunar.

Al Qaedas growing infrastructure contradicts claims that the Taliban is constraining the terrorist group

Al Qaedas infrastructure in Afghanistan continues to expand, despite the Monitoring Teams claim that the Taliban have done much to constrain the activities of Al-Qaida and their affiliates. The UN organization then seemingly contradicts itself when it notes that Member States remarked that its reorganization and training activities, as well as new travel into Afghanistan, indicate that the group still uses Afghanistan as a permissive haven under the Taliban, raising questions about Al-Qaidas intent.

The previous two Monitoring Team reports note that Al Qaeda has established safe houses, religious schools, a media operations center, and a weapons storage facility.

Taliban safe houses were identified in the provinces of Farah, Helmand, Herat, and Kabul. Ayman al Zawahiri, the co-founder and previous emir of Al Qaeda, was killed in a US drone strike on one such safe house in Kabul in July 2022. That safe house was operated by a lieutenant of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is one of the Talibans two deputy emirs and its current interior minister. The US State Department lists Sirajuddins powerful Haqqani Network as a Foreign Terrorist Organizationfor its close ties to Al Qaeda. Sirajuddin and many of his top lieutenants are alsolabeled as Specially Designated Global Terroristsby the US Treasury Department.

The safe houses in Farah, Helmand, and Herat are used by Al Qaeda to facilitate the movement [of members] between Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Monitoring Team reported in January 2024.

Al Qaeda is also operating madrasas (religious schools) in Laghman, Kunar, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Parwan provinces. In the central province of Panjshir, the former bastion of the anti-Taliban National Resistance Front, Al Qaeda has established a base to stockpile weaponry.

In addition to Al Qaedas burgeoning terror infrastructure in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda leaders serve in the Talibans government, the Taliban issues passports and national identification cards to Al Qaeda members, and the Taliban is using Al Qaeda training manuals in its Ministry of Defense.

The UN report neglects to mention the Al Qaeda emirs call for supporters to flock to Afghanistan

In early June, Sayf al Adl, Al Qaedas presumptive emir, published an article at as-Sahab, the terrorist groups official media arm, entitled, This is Gaza: A War of Existence, Not a War of Borders. In the article, Adl states that the loyal people of the Ummah [worldwide Islamic community] interested in change must go to Afghanistan, learn from its conditions, and benefit from their [the Talibans] experience.

Adls call for supporters to travel to Afghanistan to gain training, experience, and knowledge before undertaking attacks against so-called Zionist and Western targets around the world is not mentioned in the latest Monitoring Team report. However, this omission may be due to the timing of the release of Adls article and the reports release.

The Monitoring Team notes that Member States have questions about Al-Qaidas intent. It also assesses that Al-Qaida capacity to conduct large-scale attacks continues to be limited, while its intent remains firm, bolstered by its affiliates abilities to carry out external operations.

It is far more likely that Al Qaeda is holding its fire and limiting plots emanating from Afghanistan to maintain its relationship with the Taliban and secure its safe haven rather than the group having an issue with limited capacity.

Adls call for jihadists worldwide to flock to Afghanistan, coupled with Al Qaeda expanding its terror infrastructure in a permissive haven under the Taliban, should remove all doubt about Al Qaedas intent and ability to plan, train, and attempt attacks emanating from Afghan soil at a time of its choosing.

Also, see the LWJ reports:

Al Qaeda opens 8 new training camps, 5 madrasas, and a facilitation network to Iran in Afghanistan

Al Qaeda actively operating training camps in 5 Afghan provinces

Afghan Taliban and Al Qaeda aiding Pakistani Talibans insurgency

Al Qaeda leaders are prominently serving in Taliban government

Al Qaeda leader calls foreign fighters to Afghanistan

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Tags: Afghan Taliban, Afghanistan, Afghanistan. Taliban, Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda Afghanistan

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Analysis: Al Qaeda expands its network of training camps in Afghanistan - Long War Journal

Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Afghanistan has once again come under scrutiny for consistent allegations of human rights violations perpetrated mainly by the group.

At the same time, given that Afghanistan was completely dependent on foreign assistance before 2021, aid cutbacks, sanctions, and banking restrictions imposed by foreign governments including the United States have fuelled an economic and humanitarian crisis in the country since the Talibans return.

While donors should continue to press Taliban leaders to end their violations of the rights of women and girls, limiting support to Afghanistan to ever-dwindling levels of humanitarian aid to isolate them is not the answer.

The question as to how orwhether governmentsshould deal with the Taliban assumed greater importance after a UN meeting in Doha earlier this month between envoys from more than 20 countries. The meeting the first with Taliban attendees went ahead without women representatives from Afghanistan after the Taliban made clear its opposition to their participation and any discussion of womens rights.

The gathering was meant to discuss Afghanistansfinancial and banking crisis along withdrug trafficking and the impact of climate change important issues that also disproportionately affect the lives of Afghan women.

Outrage by Afghan womens rights groups led the UN to lamely hold separate talks with Afghan women and civil society representatives the day after the Doha discussions. But the question left hanging in the ether is how to address Afghanistans protracted economic crisis and worsening poverty without signalling support for the Talibans abusive policies.

Many countries and most multilateral institutions that have maintained a working relationship with the Taliban have limited their interactions to modest forms of technical support in the banking sector andessential services like internet and electricity, in addition to humanitarian aid.

In funding these services, donors are maintaining a distinction between isolating the Taliban authorities and trying not tocause further misery forAfghans, who face rising poverty, a crippled banking system, and the worseningfloods-and-drought fallout of climate change.

Income-related poverty has worsened, and humanitarian aid that is insufficient to meetgrowing needs is nosubstitute for a functioning economy.

Since well before 2021, countries including the US and UK also continued talks with the Taliban over counterterrorism andmutual concerns about ISIS-K, the Islamic State armed group that has carried outattacks abroad as well astargeting the Talibanand Shia Hazaras inside Afghanistan.

Ongoing engagement between the US and UK and the Taliban reflects their shared history. Afghanistan wasalmost completely dependenton foreign funding during the 20 years of war following the US-led invasion after 9/11. The suspension of most of those funds in August 2021 sent the Afghan economy into a freefall from which it is yet to recover.

Income-related poverty has worsened, and humanitarian aid that is insufficient to meetgrowing needs is nosubstitute for a functioning economy. In addition, while this aid has been a lifeline for Afghans facing widespread food insecurity and a brokenpublic health system, it is shrinking, as donor countries tire of the Talibans intransigence and prefer to deal with other global crises.

There is no way to address Afghanistans acute problems while bypassing the Taliban altogether. But given that the Taliban have also interfered with humanitarian assistance by blocking women from jobs at UN agencies and international aid organisations except in healthcare, nutrition, and education, what can be done?

For the long term, even more important than humanitarian aid is assistance directed at durable solutions on a national scale and not just on a project-to-project basis in essential areas such as water management, irrigation, agriculture, climate adaptation, and public health.

A humanitarian aid worker in Afghanistan told us that his Afghan female colleagues are able to work because his group prioritised principled engagement insisting with the authorities on the need and right of women to work, to run businesses, and to receive aid equally.

Otherhumanitarian actorshave been able topush back on interference because they had a long history of dealing with both the former government and the Taliban and, most importantly, because they had strong backing and funding from donor countries.

However, even if some women have returned to office jobs with aid groups, far fewer have been able to actually deliver aid in communities, and none have been able to take leadership positions in government; a contrast with the previous Afghan administration in which some women served as governors and ministers. In addition, their participation depends on time-consuming negotiations and local solutions that may not be replicated from one province to another.

But given that women and girls have suffered the most under the Talibans abusive policies they have not only been restricted from education beyond the sixth grade and many work opportunities, but they are also among thosehardest hit by the humanitarian crisis such principled engagement is the only viable choice.

For the long term, even more important than humanitarian aid is assistance directed at durable solutions on a national scale and not just on a project-to-project basis in essential areas such as water management, irrigation, agriculture, climate adaptation, and public health. The World BanksApproach 3.0 also sets out a principled approach that supports bank-financed projects implemented by and for women, outside the control of the Taliban.

Such developments are crucial because women and women-headed households havehigher rates of food insecurity, which contribute to increased chances of malnutrition-relateddisease, child labour, and early marriage. Water scarcity and Afghanistans increasingly intense cycles ofdroughts and floods also disproportionately harm women and girls.

There are no quick fixes for Afghanistan. But building resilience in these areas would also reduce Afghanistans dependence on humanitarian aid, while improving food security and access to essential public goods in the long run.

Read more here:
How to engage with the Taliban, if you have to - The New Humanitarian

This dispatch was filed by a JURIST legal correspondent in Afghanistan. For privacy and security reasons we cannot disclose her name.

Reflecting the systematic misogyny now going on in Afghanistan, a government decree was recently published aimed at reducing the salaries of women professors and other government employees to 5000 AFG, or ~70$, without considering their expert knowledge and abilities. In Kabul, protests against the decree reportedly took place in many schools, but as always these days, they were suppressed by the Taliban.

The aim of the new decree is to put more pressure on educated women to make them leave their jobs and stay at home. Its not fair to work with 70 dollars per month this is such a ridiculous amount of money in the current economic chaos in Afghanistan. The worst part of this dictatorship and pressure is that even this 5000 AFG / 70$ is not actually paid to professors and employees.

Everything in this country happens to restrict the activity and appearance of women in society. It is such an unpleasant feeling to be in this situation as an ambitious girl. The authorities only look at women as tools for their own well-being.

It is interesting that all these events took place in advance of the recent Doha meeting. This shows the shameless threat of the Taliban in front of the international community and womens rights. They are insisting rudely on their positions that the subject of Afghan women is their internal issue and the international community doesnt have the right to dictate to them.

If they issue another order declaring that women are not allowed to breathe, it wont come as a surprise.

Opinions expressed in JURIST Dispatches are solely those of our correspondents in the field and do not necessarily reflect the views of JURIST's editors, staff, donors or the University of Pittsburgh.

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Afghanistan dispatch: salaries of women professors and government employees reduced to discourage them from working - JURIST

The meeting of Turkmenistans ambassador to Afghanistan, Khoji Ovezov, with Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaki in Kabul demonstrated specific dynamics in implementing the TAPI gas pipeline project.

The news agency Alemarah reported the talks centered on the TAPI project and its advancement in Afghanistan. Diplomats discussedthe possibility of increasing the pipelines capacity, which could significantly increase the volume of Turkmen gas supplies to Pakistan and India.

In addition to TAPI, the sides considered expanding transit and transportation connections through the Turgundi station and the joint electric power project of the Nurul Jihad substation in Herat province.

The Afghan side assured determination to resolve the outstanding issues on the TAPI project and start actual work. We are preparing all the necessary documents and starting preparations for construction, Amir Khan Muttaki said.

The minister also noted the work being done to develop railroad facilities in the dry port of Turgundi and promised to update Turkmenistan soon.

Taliban official Zabihullah Mujahid recently announced Afghanistans readiness to develop the TAPI project further and cooperate with regional countries to create a North-South international transport corridor.

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Afghanistan Ready to Implement TAPI Project - Times of Central Asia

As the US-led NATO forces withdrew, China stepped into Afghanistan, focusing on exploiting mineral resources, including lithium, crucial for green technologies like electric vehicle batteries. This move has raised geopolitical tensions and also concerns about the ethical trade-offs between economic development and cultural preservation.

In the intricate tapestry of Afghanistans history, where the threads of conflict and resilience are intricately woven, a new chapter is unfolding with the departure of the US-led NATO forces since August 2021. Afghanistan is a nation riven by decades of war, without basic infrastructure or security; a country in which the majority of the population is grappling with severe economic hardship and poverty is impacting more than 90 percent of the countrys population. The security situation is precarious, but the economic condition is far worse. The US-led NATO forces remained in this country for two decades but were unable to uplift the economic condition of poor Afghans. As this nation seeks stability amid the challenges of a fragile security situation, China has stepped in to fill the vacuum and has ambitiously engaged the Taliban regime since August 2021. Chinas engagement in Afghanistan extends beyond maximising economic benefits due to its positioning at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, which is pivotal in its westward expansion, creating an arc from Chinas western regions all the way to the Euphrates, encompassing Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran.

The situation has sparked a wider debate and raised concerns in the United States, especially regarding strategic rivalry in green energy transition initiatives between the US and China.Afghanistan is home to estimated mineral reserves worth over US$3 trillion, including rich deposits of lithium, copper, iron ore, and rare earth elements crucial for modern technology. In 2010, US government geologists determined that Afghanistan held significant mineral reserves, and dubbed the country as the Saudi Arabia of lithium,an economic source that could begin to help to alleviate the country from poverty. However, little action was taken in this regard during US presence in the region.

With increased domestic and international demand for lithium, and to diversify its supply chains, China has come to see Afghanistan as a potential treasure trove. In January 2023, a Chinese company secured a significant $450 million deal to explore and exploit mineral reserves in northern Afghanistan. Another deal in the pipeline since April 2023 promises a$10 billion investment to explore lithium deposits, aiming at creating 120,000 direct jobs, plus some infrastructure buildings.These moves align with Chinas broader ambition to extend its economic and political influence globally, particularly through the Belt and Road Initiative.

The great opportunity in mineral exploration is not without challenges, encompassing heritage preservation, geopolitical dynamics, religious extremism, and the delicate equilibrium between economic growth and cultural legacy. Mines identified at Mes Aynak, for instance, are spread over an archaeological site that occupies a vast and ancient Buddhist monastery complex around the Baba Wali Mountains. The archaeological sites dimple multiple hills and are scattered across more than 100 acres, sitting directly on top of an estimated $80-100 billion worth of copper and other minerals. The excavations have focused primarily on sites from the late Kashan to late Hindu Shahi periods, from around the 2nd to the 9th century CE. The nineteen sites discovered so far include dozens of temples and monasteries filled with painted murals, elaborate stupas, and hundreds of statues, many in an extraordinary state of preservation, but too fragile to be moved. Beyond the geopolitical chessboard, the narrative delves into the heart of Afghanistans rich heritage. The Mes Aynak mines, sitting atop an ancient Buddhist monastery complex, harbor treasures worth billions but also pose an ethical dilemma. The excavation site reveals a cultural tapestry spanning centuries, raising profound questions about the ethical trade-off between economic development and the preservation of Afghanistans invaluable cultural legacy.

Tamim Asey, a senior visiting research fellow at Kings College London, expresses his concerns about the Afghan mining ministrys inability to effectively manage and oversee such contracts. Although unlike the previous Taliban regime and its policies towards Buddhist sites, the current de facto Taliban government has emphasised its intention to preserve the archaeological remains at these site. Tamim Asey cautions that such deals could lead to corruption, mismanagement, and environmental disasters.

Meanwhile, the potential geo-strategic risks and geopolitical implications associated with Chinese investment have prompted careful scrutiny from US authorities, concerned that Chinas deepening involvement could reshape the regional landscape, potentially at the expense of US interests. The fine balance between economic opportunities and geopolitical considerations emerges as a critical challenge for both nations.

Washingtons objectives face even greater concerns regarding Chinese investment and its increasing involvement and influence in the region due to its strained relationship with the Taliban. The lack of transparency and sustainable practices in Chinese investments, as indicated in a George W. Bush Institutes recent report, may lack potency when considering similar malpractices and embezzlement that were routine during NATOs presence in Afghanistan. While legitimate concerns exist about Chinese investments potentially strengthening the Taliban regime, Washington needs to be tactfully select in its strategy for Afghanistan. Given Chinas provision of income and outreach to grassroots communities, it is necessary to reflect on how Chinese investment may impact regional stability. Without providing an alternative option to this poverty-stricken, war-torn land, jeopardising communities in dire need of investment will undermine human security.

Moving forward necessitates achieving a harmonious balance between fostering economic development and safeguarding Afghanistans rich heritage. Both China and the United States face the shared challenge of navigating this complex terrain, requiring diplomatic finesse.

As the narrative unfolds, it prompts the need for a broader global discussino on the ethical dimensions of prioritising financial gains over the conservation of Afghanistans cultural legacy. Stakeholders are urged to seek a delicate equilibrium that respects the nations past while forging a path towards a more stable and prosperous future.

Dr Seema Khanfocuses on South Asianrelations and the broader global context, reflecting her commitment to advancing knowledge in the realms of politics and international relations.

This article is published under a Creative Commons Licence and may be republished with attribution.

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Navigating the Crossroads: Chinas Mineral Pursuit in Afghanistan and the US Concerns - Australian Institute of International Affairs