In Afghanistan, Taliban’s Ties to al-Qaida Unchanged

 

During months of negotiations¹, the Afghan Taliban promised the United States that it would never again be attacked from Afghan soil. Such a promise would have included al-Qaida.

Eighteen years ago, al-Qaida’s leadership planned attacks on the U.S. mainland from inside Afghanistan, which was controlled, at the time, by the Taliban. The attacks were carried out on September 11, 2001.

The Taliban and al-Qaida are linked together by their shared history and desire for jihad, or holy war. And there is no evidence that the two groups have broken off relations.

Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Taliban had agreed to cut ties with al-Qaida as part of peace negotiations.

President Donald Trump² broke off the negotiations last week after a suicide bombing in Kabul killed 11 people. One of those killed belonged to the U.S. armed forces.

Experts: Taliban and al-Qaida remain allies

The al-Qaida leadership still vows⁵ loyalty⁶ to Taliban chief Maulvi Hibatullah Akhunzada. Experts say that the group has overcome setbacks, such as the establishment of an Islamic State group affiliate⁷ in eastern Afghanistan. The militants⁹ also have set up a group called al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, which has influence as far as Myanmar.

Asfandyar Mir is with the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

Mir says that al-Qaida has recovered recently and its ties with the Taliban remain strong.

“There is no discernible evidence of a break or disjuncture between al-Qaida and the Taliban,” he told the Associated Press. “Instead, at least parts of the Afghan Taliban, such as the Haqqani Network, and al-Qaida continue to actively¹⁰ collaborate¹¹,” he added.

In the 1980s, U.S. officials were among those who urged Arab fighters to travel to Afghanistan to fight with the Afghan mujahedeen, or holy warriors¹². They were allied¹³ in an effort to oust¹⁴ the Soviet¹⁵ Union, which entered Afghanistan in late 1979.

Saudi Arabia’s government helped finance that “holy war.”

Today, many former members of the mujahedeen force make up the Taliban leadership. Others are part of the U.S.-supported Afghan government.

As the war against the Soviet occupation came to a close in 1988, many Arab fighters came together to follow a rich Saudi leader named Osama bin³ Laden¹⁶. They created the militant⁸ group al-Qaida. Later, the group would seek to fight the U.S. government.

Afghanistan has suffered through years of fighting. The Taliban movement came to power in 1996 and ruled the country until it was ousted¹⁷ by the U.S.-led coalition¹⁸ in 2001.

Eighteen years of fighting have left the Taliban and its allies in control of, or influential¹⁹ in, half the country. That is its strongest position since the U.S.-led action in 2001 forced the group from power.

A U.S. government report suggests that the number of al-Qaida militants has also grown in recent years. Allied groups, such as the Pakistani Taliban, who hid in Afghanistan to escape the Pakistani military, are also gaining strength.

And Afghanistan still has many foreign fighters. A United Nations Security Council report from July said that “the largest concentrations of active foreign terrorist fighters” are in Syria and Afghanistan. Most are linked to al-Qaida.

Some members of the Taliban have tried to distance themselves from al-Qaida. But reports say al-Qaida remains²⁰ allied to the Taliban’s leadership and its Haqqani network.

The Afghanistan expert Asfandyar Mir said that, in places that the group controls, the Taliban appoints governors who have ties to al-Qaida.

So, it is unclear how the Taliban could guarantee that Afghanistan would not become a safe place for terrorists after a peace deal is signed. U.S. peace representative Zalmay Khalilzad has yet to discuss details of his negotiations.

It remains unclear if the Taliban provided any information on where al-Qaida leaders are hiding, including bin Laden’s replacement²¹, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Bill Roggio is a terrorism expert and main editor for The Long War Journal, published by the Foundation for Defense²² of Democracies in Washington, D.C. He said that al-Zawahiri and al-Qaida’s media group, as-Sahab, “remain in operation and likely are based in Pakistan or Afghanistan.”

Mir said al-Qaida’s media group creates propaganda aimed at Afghans and Pakistanis.

Roggio said the group has expanded to operate in many areas. He added that, “While al-Qaida’s ability to conduct a 9/11-style attack has been diminished, this does not make it any less a threat.”

I’m Mario Ritter Jr.

Words in This Story

vow⁴ –v. a serious promise to do something or behave in a certain way

affiliate – n. a person or group officially connected to a larger organization

discernible –adj. observable, recognizable

collaborate –v. to work together on some project

concentration –n. densely²³ grouped together, having many members

to distance oneself –v. to show a lack of involvement with someone or something

diminish –v. to reduce or make smaller

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

4 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

5 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

6 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

7 affiliate   

vt.使隶(附)属于；n.附属机构，分公司

参考例句：

• Our New York company has an affiliate in Los Angeles.我们的纽约公司在洛杉矶有一个下属企业。
• What is the difference between affiliate and regular membership?固定会员和附属会员之间的区别是什么？

8 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

9 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

10 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

11 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

12 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

13 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

14 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

15 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

16 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

17 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

18 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

19 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

20 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

21 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

22 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

23 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。