Al-Qaeda still under 'patronage' of Taliban as UN team warns of 'multipolar' global jihad threat

Al-Qaeda continues to enjoy the “patronage” of the Taliban despite the theocratic group's claims that there are no terrorist groups in Afghanistan, a specialized United Nations team assessed, with the new UN report warning about a “multipolar” threat posed by jihadist groups worldwide.

The UN ​​Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team released a new February report on Al-Qaeda, ISIS-K, and other jihadist groups. The UN sanctions monitoring team said that “the Afghan de facto authorities” — the Taliban — “claimed that there were no terrorist groups within its borders,” but the UN experts stressed that “no Member State supported this view.”

Al-Qaeda was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on U.S. soil, as well as a host of other murderous attacks worldwide.

Safe haven for terrorists

The Taliban gave al-Qaeda safe haven in Afghanistan before 9/11 and continued to protect al-Qaeda and fight alongside it for two decades after the U.S. invasion. The Taliban, the Taliban’s Haqqani Network, and al-Qaeda remain deeply intertwined in Afghanistan.

“Regional countries remained concerned about the number of terrorist groups in Afghanistan and its spillover effects, including cross-border attacks and the radicalization of vulnerable domestic communities,” the U.N. team said in its new report.

The Taliban conducted a lightning-fast takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 and swept into the Afghan capital of Kabul in mid-August of that year. President Biden's haphazard, chaotic and deadly evacuation operation was conducted through Hamid Karzai International Airport while the U.S. military naively relied upon the hostile Taliban – including the Haqqani Network – to provide security outside the airport.

Watchdog reports have shown the U.S. government continued to send billions to Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, with the Taliban skimming millions in taxes. Just the News recently reported on how Congress is moving toward banning all U.S. funding for the Taliban.

The U.N. team also warned in its new report that the threat from Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (abbreviated as ISIL in the U.N. report) is “multipolar and increasingly complex” and that “it intensified in multiple theaters, notably in West Africa and the Sahel, and in South Asia.” The report also warned that “there were growing concerns about the exploitation of commercial satellite communications by terrorist groups and their increasing proficiency in using artificial intelligence.”

Al-Qaeda acts as a “service provider” for other Afghan terrorist groups

The U.N. team said that “Al-Qaeda's status and strength remained unchanged from that reported in the previous report of the Monitoring Team” — meaning the terrorist group remained under the radar but resilient — “and its appetite for external operations undiminished.”

“Al-Qaeda continued to enjoy the patronage of the de facto authorities,” the U.N. team said. “It acted as a service provider and multiplier for other terrorist groups in Afghanistan in terms of training and advice, principally to” the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan — dubbed the TTP or Pakistani Taliban.

The report also said that Al-Qaeda’s “focus was on ‘spectacular’ attacks aimed at attracting notoriety and global media coverage, rather than the lower sophistication attacks favored by” the Islamic State and its ISIS-K branch in Afghanistan.

The Taliban “continues to host and support the group,” the UN team also said of al-Qaeda late last year, and “senior al-Qaeda commanders are reported to be living in Kabul.”

The U.N. experts said in the new report that Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) — the terrorist group’s main node in South Asia — “remained active in south-eastern Afghanistan, where the Haqqani Network exerts considerable influence.” The report said that AQIS Emir Osama Mahmoud and AQIS deputy Yahya Ghauri “were reported to be in Kabul” while the media cell of AQIS was based in the Afghan city of Herat.

“There were concerns that AQIS was increasingly focused on external operations,” the UN team said. “Such operations would likely be unclaimed or deniable operations, perhaps as part of the umbrella group Ittihad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan (which declared itself in April) so as not to create difficulties for the Taliban as hosts of AQIS.”

Sayf al-Adel is believed by the FBI to be the current de-facto head of al-Qaeda, and the UN team previously assessed his “strategy to reorganize Al-Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan and reactivate sleeper cells in Iraq, Libya, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Europe to be indicative of the group’s longer-term intent to carry out external operations.”

He is currently believed to be based in Iran, and the UN monitoring team assessed in 2024 that “several Member States noted individuals travelling to provide liaison between” al-Adel in Iran “and senior al-Qaeda figures in Afghanistan.”

Sayf al-Adel called upon terrorists and al-Qaeda members in the summer of 2024 to travel to the safe haven of Afghanistan to have their terror skills honed by the Taliban: “The loyal people of the Ummah [worldwide Islamic community] interested in change must go to Afghanistan, learn from its conditions, and benefit from their [the Taliban’s] experience.”

The U.N. monitoring team said in a prior report that at least three key leaders in the Taliban’s ruling government were “affiliated” or “associated” with al-Qaeda, stating that two Taliban provincial governors were “affiliated” with al-Qaeda while the Taliban’s deputy director of intelligence was also “associated” with al-Qaeda.

The U.N. team had also previously assessed that “Al-Qaeda members have received appointments and advisory roles in the Taliban security and administrative structures” because of the Taliban, and that “interlocutors confirmed that the Taliban provided al-Qaeda with monthly ‘welfare payments,’ with portions of those payments filtered down to fighters of al-Qaeda affiliated groups.”

Taliban interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani is also closely linked to al-Qaeda. The U.N. report also said that Sirajuddin’s ministry “continued its distribution of Afghan passports and tazkiras (national identity cards) to al-Qaeda members with advisory roles in main Afghan cities.”

Just the News previously reported on how the Trump administration has lifted bounties on a number of key Haqqani Taliban leaders. Sirajuddin remains on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” List.

Pakistani Taliban given “permissive environment” by Afghan Taliban

The Taliban also “continued to provide a permissive environment for a range of terrorist groups, notably Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan,” according to the new UN report, which said that “the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan remained a source of concern.” 

The report said that the Taliban “continued to act against” ISIS-K and to “control the external activities of some other groups,” but that the Pakistani Taliban — “was accorded greater liberty and support from the de facto authorities, and consequently TTP attacks against Pakistan increased, amplifying regional tensions.”

The U.N. team said that “there was an increase in attacks in Pakistan launched by TTP in Afghanistan, which led to military exchanges” and that “regional relations remained fragile.”

“TTP operates as one of the largest terrorist groups in Afghanistan and its attacks on Pakistani security forces and State structures led to military confrontation,” the UN team assessed. “Attacks were increasingly complex and, at times, involved large numbers of fighters.”

The U.N. report also said that “some Member States expressed concern that TTP may deepen its cooperation with Al-Qaeda-aligned groups in order to attack a wider range of targets, potentially resulting in an extraregional threat.”

A report from the UN team also stated late last year that the TTP “has conducted numerous high-profile attacks in Pakistan from Afghan soil” and that “continued Taliban harboring of TTP leadership in Afghanistan and its ongoing facilitation of TTP operations have brought relations to a critical point.”

ISIS-K remains a threat in Afghanistan despite “significant pressure”

The UN team also warned that ISIS-K remained resilient in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the region.

“ISIL-K was under significant pressure, mostly from security operations of regional States and military actions by the Taliban,” the UN report found. “While there were fewer attacks, it retained significant operational and combat capability and the ability to rapidly replace fighters, including through online recruitment. The pressure campaign pushed ISIL-K to search for alliances with other armed factions in different areas in Afghanistan.”

The UN team argued that “ISIL-K was active mainly in northern Afghanistan, particularly Badakhshan, and areas close to the Pakistani border. It continued to develop its network of cells to project a threat regionally and beyond.”

The report said that “aggressive propaganda by ISIL-K in Central Asian languages expanded its target audience” and that “it sought to exploit issues such as the Gaza and Israel conflict to promote recruitment and financing,” and that late last year that the Taliban has "suppressed – although not eliminated – the threat from” ISIS-K, noting that ISIS-K “continues to pose serious threats within Afghanistan, regionally and beyond.”

The analytic team added that some member states believe that ISIS-K “maintains opportunistic links to TTP, as well as to disillusioned elements within the Taliban” and that the level of ISIS-K “infiltration” into the Taliban structure is “considered to be extensive.”

The jihad makes gains in Africa, Middle East, cyberspace, and elsewhere

The U.N. team also examined the broader jihadist picture across the globe. The report found that “the leadership of Al-Qaeda remained cohesive, though isolated” and that “dissatisfaction among the rank-and-file with the de facto leadership of Sayf al-Adl continued.” Yet the U.N. said that “nevertheless, Al-Qaeda retained the ambition to carry out 'spectacular' external attacks.”

“Partly as a result of the Al-Qaeda senior leadership’s isolation, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – under its leader, Saad ben Atef al-Awlaki – appeared to be increasingly asserting its ideological and operational leadership of the global Al-Qaeda network,” the U.N. team found. “The external threat AQAP posed was assessed to be increasing, though it remained opportunistic. It was bolstered by support from Al-Shabaab and facilitated, to a lesser extent, by opportunistic collaboration with the Houthis.”

The report said that Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin — al-Qaeda’s branch in Mali — “continued to expand the territory under its control and instituted a fuel blockade” around Mali’s capital of Bamako. The U.N. said that the al-Qaeda affiliate “carried out its first attack in Nigeria” and that “its coffers were said to have been swollen by proceeds from kidnapping for ransom, including reports of a single ransom payment of around $50 million.”

The U.N.report also said that “elements from Al-Qaeda-aligned Hurras al-Din were active” in Syria and “their allegiance to the global agenda of Al-Qaeda remained undiminished.” The U.N. report said that the Islamic State’s “focus on parts of Africa continued to increase.” The team said that ISIS activities in Somalia “were constrained by sustained counter-terrorism pressure” but that “nevertheless, it remained resilient.”

The report said that ISIS-K also “continued to seek to undermine the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic.” 

“ISIL cells remained active across the Syrian Arab Republic. Attacks targeted security forces, particularly in the north-east,” the U.N. team found. “ISIL attempted to provoke sectarian tensions in order to undermine the Government. The President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, was also a priority target.”

The U.N. report also warned about jihadist groups seeking to expand their abilities in cyberspace.

“Both ISIL and Al-Qaeda continued their efforts to build cybercapabilities, including by appealing to cyberexperts to join their ranks,” the report found. “In August, Cyber Jihad Movement, an established hacker group, pledged its allegiance to Sayf al-Adl, thereby potentially increasing Al-Qaeda cybercapabilities.”

The U.N. added: “There was a discernible increase in the effective use of new technology. Terrorist groups exploited commercial satellite communication systems, which enabled cheap, fast and relatively secure communication in remote areas. They also demonstrated greater proficiency in the use of artificial intelligence, primarily in propaganda; they were increasingly adept at seamlessly integrating artificial intelligence tools and visual effects into their efforts to radicalize and recruit.”

“The Taliban use detainees as leverage in negotiations”

Ambassador Tammy Bruce, the U.S. Deputy Representative to the U.N., spoke in New York City last week about “the vital role of the Monitoring Team and the role that it plays in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan.” Bruce highlighted that the U.N. Security Council “also strongly condemned hostage taking, which the Taliban continue to use as an insurgent tactic of hostage diplomacy” and noted that “the Taliban use detainees as leverage in negotiations, against the United States and other countries.”

The U.S. diplomat said that “in exchange for the Americans currently detained, the Taliban have openly sought the release of an al-Qaida operative detained in Guantánamo Bay, while paradoxically promising to uphold their counterterrorism commitments.”

The Taliban continues to hold multiple Americans hostage in Afghanistan. CBS News reported last month that “Monday marks one year since Dennis Coyle, a 64-year-old academic from Colorado, was taken by force from his Kabul apartment by the Taliban” and that “his abduction came just six days after another American, Ryan Corbett, was released at the start of President Trump's second term.”

The New York Times further reported last month that “the Taliban say they have only two” U.S. hostages — “identified by U.S. officials” as Coyle “and Polynesis Jackson, a former U.S. Army soldier whose reasons for being in the country remain murky.”

The news outlet also reported that Taliban officials “say they do not know the whereabouts of a third U.S. citizen, Mahmood Habibi, who the FBI says was arrested in Afghanistan in 2022 shortly after the CIA killed Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda’s leader, in Kabul.” The Times said the men who seized Habibi “said they were from the Taliban’s intelligence services.”

“The Taliban must end all forms of hostage-taking and wrongful detentions,” Bruce said last week. “The U.N. 1988 sanctions regime and its Monitoring Team remain critical tools for the international community to hold the Taliban accountable, including for these deplorable tactics.”

Abbey Gate bombing co-conspirator slated for trial

An ISIS-K bomber named Abdul Rahman al-Logari — who had been freed by the Taliban from a prison at Bagram Air Base in mid-August 2021 only weeks after the U.S. abandoned the base — has been identified as having carried out a partially successful suicide attack at Abbey Gate. That murder spree killed 13 U.S. service members and an estimated 170 Afghan civilians while wounding dozens of other U.S. troops and scores of Afghans in the crowd, on August 26, 2021.

President Donald Trump announced in March last year that the U.S. had extradited one of the ISIS-K terrorists responsible for the Abbey Gate attack at the Karzai airport. Mohammad Sharifullah, captured with the help of Pakistani intelligence, was extradited to the U.S. last month. The FBI said that Sharifullah confessed to being involved in “route reconnaissance” in the lead-up to the attack.

The U.N. monitoring team said in 2020 that some countries noted that most ISIS-K attacks include “involvement, facilitation, or the provision of technical assistance” by the Haqqani Network, and that ISIS-K “lacked the capability to launch complex attacks in Kabul on its own” without Haqqani help. The team also said it had “viewed communication intercepts in the wake of attacks that were claimed by ISIS-K that were traceable to known members of the Haqqani Network.”

The team also said that “some countries “have reported tactical or commander-level collaboration between ISIL-K and the Haqqani Network.” According to Arab News, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that “we strongly reject this propaganda” and that “we have nothing in common (and don’t operate cells) with Daesh [ISIS-K].”

Sanaullah Ghafari, the head of ISIS-K, still has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head. West Point’s Counterterrorism Center published an article in 2022 stating that Ghafari had joined “Taliban factions affiliated with the Haqqani network” and “had close links to the Haqqani network’s senior commanders.”

The U.N. monitoring team said in 2021 that one nation said that Ghafari was “previously a mid-level commander in the Haqqani Network” and that he continued to maintain cooperation with the Haqqanis. One U.N. member state said in June 2021 that ISIS-K leader Ghafari’s ongoing relationship with the Haqqanis provided ISIS-K with “key expertise and access to [attack] networks.” 

Gen. Austin Scott Miller, the commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan through July 2021, told Congress in 2024 that “I could never verify a Haqqani-ISIS nexus.” 

Major General Buck Elton and Captain Joshua Fruth assessed in late 2021 that “the Taliban may have leveraged ISIS–K as a proxy strawman layer of separation to oversee and/or facilitate the attack on U.S. service members and Afghan civilians” at the airport.

The trial for Sharifullah, the alleged co-conspirator in the Abbey Gate attack, is scheduled for April.