FPI / February 21, 2024
Geostrategy-Direct
Following the Biden Administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, the ruling Taliban is denying reports that it has accommodated a resurgence of the Al Qaida terrorist organization.
Al Qaida has established eight new training camps and five madrassas (Islamic educational institutions), around the country, a report from the UN Security Council in late January revealed.
The report said that the training camps are located in various provinces, including Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan, and Uruzgan. It also listed sites used by Al Qaida to move its jihadists in and out of neighboring Iran, and said that a new base to stockpile weaponry has been established in the Panjshir Valley, north of the capital, Kabul.
"The group maintains safe houses to facilitate the movement between Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the provinces of Herat, Farah, and Helmand, with additional safe house locations in Kabul," the report said.
"This accommodation of Al Qaida within Afghanistan has validated longstanding fears voiced by many observers regarding the country once again becoming a safe haven for terrorist organizations under Taliban rule," said Shahin Modarres, an international security analyst specializing in Iran affiliated with the Center for Middle East and Global Order.
The flow of cash to help the Taliban while it allows Al Qaida to flourish sends a dangerous message to bad actors, and much of it is routed through the UN, which receives the bulk of its funding from the United States.
“America is the biggest funder of this thing. So the United States taxpayer is disproportionately on the hook paying for these activities,” former Deputy National Security Adviser Victoria Coates said recently.
The Biden Administration “has a history of giving money to terrorist organizations, abandoning $80 billion worth of military equipment in Afghanistan so the Taliban can run around with our M4s and our Blackhawks, and all of our equipment. They have an America last agenda,” Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube told the Just the News, No Noise television show.
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