Taliban: We Never Promised to Cut Ties with al-Qaeda
Jul 14, 2021 17:55:27 GMT -5
Post by shalom on Jul 14, 2021 17:55:27 GMT -5
Taliban: We Never Promised to Cut Ties with al-Qaeda
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Mirwais Khan/Associated PressMirwais Khan/Associated Press
GABRIELLE REYES12 Jul 2021
5:07
A spokesman for the Taliban terror group implied to Afghanistan’s Tolo News on Monday the jihadist organization “maintains ties with al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.”
Tolo News raised the issue of the Taliban’s alleged ties to the Islamist terror group al-Qaeda during an interview with Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on July 12. Mujahid said that an agreement between the Taliban, the legitimate government of Afghanistan, and the administration of President Donald Trump never required the Taliban to cut ties to the group.
“Nowhere in the agreement has it been mentioned that we have or don’t have ties with anyone,” Mujahid asserted, responding to a long list of evidence that the Taliban continued to associate with al-Qaeda following negotiations with Washington.
Speaking directly to Mujahid, the Afghan news site recalled that “Abdul Mohsin al Mesri, the number 2 of al Qaeda, was killed in Andar district in Ghazni, [Afghanistan,] an area under your control,” referring to an incident that took place in October of last year.
“The United Nations [U.N.] said on Oct. 31, 2020, that al Qaeda fighters are among Taliban ranks and that it is a violation of the Doha agreement,” Tolo News continued, referring to a U.S.-brokered peace agreement forged between the internationally recognized Afghan government based in Kabul and the Taliban in February 2020.
Washington began hosting talks between the two sides in Doha, Qatar, in September 2020 to discuss the guidelines of the peace agreement. The deal, the vast majority of major media outlets reporting on it, stated that the United States would agree to fully withdraw troops from the country by May 1, 2021, in exchange for the Taliban agreeing not to attack American troops or host foreign jihadist organizations in Afghanistan, primarily al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda is the Sunni jihadist group responsible for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that prompted the American invasion of Afghanistan at the time.
President Joe Biden broke the deal by refusing to withdraw from the country by May. Biden announced in April that troops would fully withdraw by September 11. Last week, he updated that deadline to August 31, 2021.
Continued at link
108
Mirwais Khan/Associated PressMirwais Khan/Associated Press
GABRIELLE REYES12 Jul 2021
5:07
A spokesman for the Taliban terror group implied to Afghanistan’s Tolo News on Monday the jihadist organization “maintains ties with al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.”
Tolo News raised the issue of the Taliban’s alleged ties to the Islamist terror group al-Qaeda during an interview with Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on July 12. Mujahid said that an agreement between the Taliban, the legitimate government of Afghanistan, and the administration of President Donald Trump never required the Taliban to cut ties to the group.
“Nowhere in the agreement has it been mentioned that we have or don’t have ties with anyone,” Mujahid asserted, responding to a long list of evidence that the Taliban continued to associate with al-Qaeda following negotiations with Washington.
Speaking directly to Mujahid, the Afghan news site recalled that “Abdul Mohsin al Mesri, the number 2 of al Qaeda, was killed in Andar district in Ghazni, [Afghanistan,] an area under your control,” referring to an incident that took place in October of last year.
“The United Nations [U.N.] said on Oct. 31, 2020, that al Qaeda fighters are among Taliban ranks and that it is a violation of the Doha agreement,” Tolo News continued, referring to a U.S.-brokered peace agreement forged between the internationally recognized Afghan government based in Kabul and the Taliban in February 2020.
Washington began hosting talks between the two sides in Doha, Qatar, in September 2020 to discuss the guidelines of the peace agreement. The deal, the vast majority of major media outlets reporting on it, stated that the United States would agree to fully withdraw troops from the country by May 1, 2021, in exchange for the Taliban agreeing not to attack American troops or host foreign jihadist organizations in Afghanistan, primarily al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda is the Sunni jihadist group responsible for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that prompted the American invasion of Afghanistan at the time.
President Joe Biden broke the deal by refusing to withdraw from the country by May. Biden announced in April that troops would fully withdraw by September 11. Last week, he updated that deadline to August 31, 2021.
Continued at link