Despite their apparent disagreements with the United States on many issues, Russia, China and Iran appear to share Washington’s concerns about terrorist threats from Afghanistan as they call on the de facto Taliban regime to deliver on its counterterrorism promises.
US officials said alleged terrorist groups based in Afghanistan were planning and carrying out attacks on Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. More than 20 armed groups now declare their presence in the Afghan state.
Of particular concern is the active presence in Afghanistan of the Pakistani Taliban, an insurgent group that has claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks in Pakistan over the past few months, according to the American Voice of America network.
Last week, senior diplomats from Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan met in Tashkent 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, urged the current de facto Afghan authorities to take more effective measures to eliminate terrorist groups in the country,” the statement said. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan.
Thomas West, US Special Representative for Afghanistan, told Tolonews last week: “While the Taliban have committed themselves not to host terrorists who want to harm other countries and not to allow training, recruitment or fundraising on their territory, all this it happens.”
During negotiations on the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2019-2020, the Taliban committed to take immediate action in the territories under their control against groups and individuals that threaten the security of any country.
Experts say the Taliban now run a country with porous borders with six neighbors, no standing army, amid international sanctions and unable to meet U.S. and regional anti-terrorism expectations. “Everyone can see the Pakistani Taliban taking refuge in Afghanistan and attacking Pakistan,” said Graham Smith, international crisis expert at ICG.
Domestic terrorism
The Taliban denies harboring terrorist groups in Afghanistan and reaffirms their commitment to preventing threats to the security of other countries. Despite downplaying continued threats from the so-called Islamic State of Khorasan Province (IKKU) and other armed opposition groups as insignificant and manageable, the Taliban have largely failed to prevent terrorist attacks inside Afghanistan.
Last week, a Taliban governor in the northern province of Balkh was killed in a suicide attack for which ISIS claimed responsibility. In December, ISIS announced the assassination of a district politician in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, and both the Taliban and ISIS say they are at war with each other.
The United Nations said that under the Taliban, the Islamic State targeted religious minorities and other vulnerable groups, killing hundreds of people in Afghanistan last year.
The head of the UN said in a report to the Security Council that between November 14 and January 31, “the United Nations recorded 1,201 incidents related to motherhood, which is 10% more than the 1,088 incidents recorded during the same period in 2021-2022” . March 8.
Al Qaeda
For almost three decades, the United States has expressed concern about the presence of al-Qaeda operatives and its leaders in Afghanistan, where they have plotted to attack American interests around the world.
In search of al-Qaeda leaders, the United States invaded Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks and engaged there in what is being called the longest foreign war in US history. Last year, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a US drone strike in Kabul.
Dodging charges of harboring al-Zawahiri in defiance of their anti-terrorism pledges, the Taliban are refusing to confirm that the al-Qaeda leader was indeed found and killed in Kabul.
According to a UN report in February, even al-Qaeda has yet to announce its new leader due to “sensitivity to Afghan Taliban fears of not acknowledging Zawahiri’s death in Kabul.”
US officials say new al-Qaeda leader Saif al-Adel, a former Egyptian special forces officer, is in Iran. Tehran denies the claim.
Although the United States and the Taliban accuse each other of violating certain parts of the agreement that their representatives signed in February 2020 in Doha, Qatar, it is unclear how both sides should resolve the differences and the consequences that may arise from violations to deal with.
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