United Nations: The link between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan remains “strong and symbiotic”, according to a UN report which said the ability of terrorist groups to freely manoeuvre under the Taliban de facto authorities in Afghanistan is raising the threat of terrorism in the country and the region.
The fourteenth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team of the 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council said that contrary to statements to not allow Afghan soil to be used for attacks against other countries, the Taliban have harboured and allowed active support of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
While maintaining links to numerous terrorist entities, the Taliban have lobbied member states for counter-terrorism assistance in its fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (ISIL-K), which it perceives as its principal rival.
“The link between the Taliban and both Al-Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) remains strong and symbiotic. A range of terrorist groups have greater freedom of manoeuvre under the Taliban de facto authorities. They are making good use of this, and the threat of terrorism is rising in both Afghanistan and the region,” the report, issued here on Friday, said.
It added that while they have sought to reduce the profile of these groups and have conducted operations against ISIL-K, in general, the Taliban have not delivered on the counter-terrorism provisions under the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan between the United States of America and the Taliban.
Further, there are indications that Al-Qaeda is rebuilding operational capability, that TTP is launching attacks into Pakistan with support from the Taliban, that groups of foreign terrorist fighters are projecting threat across Afghanistan’s borders and that the operations of ISIL-K are becoming more sophisticated and lethal (if not more numerous), it said.
The report added that the Taliban harbouring and supporting TTP evidences a threat projecting beyond the borders of Afghanistan and negates the group’s numerous assertions that Afghanistan’s soil will not be used for carrying out attacks against other countries.
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