According to a UN Security Council-mandated monitoring team, the Pakistan-based anti-India terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) have established 11 training camps in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover last August, with JeM running eight camps, three of which are under direct Taliban control.
Those acquainted with the contents informed ET that JeM and LeT had been specifically mentioned in a report like this after a gap of at least five years. Both factions appear to have focused their camps in the Afghan provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar, which border Pakistan. These data were revealed in the first report made by the monitoring team of the 1988 UN Security Council Taliban sanctions committee after the Taliban took control.
As per the article, whereas the founding leader of JeM is Masood Azhar, an UN-designated terrorist who was freed by India in return for hostages after the Kandahar hijacking, the organization now has a newly appointed head in Afghanistan, Qari Ramazan. The JeM ‘maintains eight training camps in Nangarhar Pakistan, three of which are directly under Taliban control,’ according to the study. The LeT in Afghanistan is directed by Maulavi Yousuf, and a Taliban team visited one of the LeT training camps in the Haska Mena region of Nangarhar province six months ago in January.
‘Based on one Member State, another LeT commander, Maulavi Assadullah, met with Taliban Deputy Interior Minister Noor Jalil in October 2021,’ claimed the report, which also notes that prior reports have identified LeT as having contributed funding and training expertise to Taliban operations’.The organization is claimed to have constructed three camps in Kunar and Nangarhar at the moment. Ex-LeT members including Aslam Farooqi and Ejaz Ahmad Ahangar, also known as Abu Usman al-Kashmiri, have also joined ISIL-K, which is now targeting the Taliban, according to the report. According to insiders, Pakistan attempted to fight and erase these results but failed, claiming that it had uncovered no evidence of the organizations’ existence after conducting targeted operations against them.
Aside from that, the first monitoring team report since August 2021 emphasized that the relationship between the Taliban and Al Qaeda ‘remains tight,’ with the latter reiterating its promise of loyalty to the new Taliban leadership. ‘So far, Member State assessments indicate that Al-Qaida enjoys a safe haven and enhanced freedom of action under the Taliban. Ayman al-Zawahiri has been issuing more regular recorded messages since August, and there is now confirmation of his existence as recently as February 2022’.
Post Your Comments