A UN assessment identifies’strong
According to a United Nations (UN) study, there is still a “strong and symbiotic” relationship between the Afghan Taliban and the banned militant groups Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al-Qaeda. A “range of terrorist groups has greater freedom of manoeuvre under the Taliban de facto authorities,” according to the fourteenth report of the UN Security Council’s 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee, which was published on Friday. The study, a copy of which is accessible at Dawn.com, stated, “They are making good use of this and the threat of terrorism is rising in both Afghanistan and the region.”The Taliban have lobbied member governments while attempting to lower the visibility of these groups and while keeping connections to several terrorist organisations.
“There are signs that Al-Qaeda is regaining operational capability, that TTP is attacking Pakistan with Taliban support, that foreign terrorist fighter groups are projecting threat across the borders of Afghanistan, and that ISIL-K operations are becoming more sophisticated and lethal (if not more numerous),” it continued. The study was, however, disregarded and dubbed “full of prejudice” by the Afghan Taliban. According to a statement released today by the Taliban government’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers the continuation of UN Security Council sanctions and such reports as full of prejudice and in conflict with the principles of independence and non-interference, and calls for an end to it.”
Mr. Usmani indicated further information [about the discussions] will be given later but made no mention of their conversations with the TTP leadership. Unverified sources claim that the delegation received a charter of demands from the prohibited group. Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Information and Broadcasting, is in charge of the team that arrived in Kabul on Saturday. It will stay in Afghanistan for four days and is made up of legislators and tribal leaders. The group will return to the Afghan capital for talks with the TTP leadership on its second trip. There were 58 people in the initial delegation. The first round, which a participant characterised as “cordial and at times tough,” failed to address the TTP’s.
