Al Qaeda's Global War on America
They're Stronger Than Ever
Al-Qaeda “is back” with a vengeance in Afghanistan and has a more robust footprint there than ever before. When Joe Biden pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021, he claimed that Al-Qaeda had been defeated.
“Remember why we went to Afghanistan in the first place? Because we were attacked by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda on Sept. 11, 2001, and they were based in Afghanistan,” Biden said in his Aug. 31, 2024 remarks on the pullout from Afghanistan. “We delivered justice to bin Laden on May 2, 2011 — over a decade ago. Al Qaeda was decimated.”
That was wishful thinking, and that official narrative was a lie. Around 800 al-Qaeda commanders and over 50,000 Al-Qaeda members, along with their families, operate in Afghanistan, according to our intelligence reports. American policymakers look the other way due to their foolish belief that the Taliban is a counterterrorism partner against al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations.
Despite the Taliban’s denial of Al-Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaida, was killed on Jul. 31, 2022, in a U.S. drone strike in the diplomatic district of Kabul, just 900 meters from the Afghan Presidential Palace. Moreover, Saif al-Adel, the leader of Al-Qaeda, currently residing in Iran, has instructed all fighters and supporters of the group to travel to Afghanistan for military training. Al-Qaeda members currently receive military training in Taliban-run training centers across various provinces of Afghanistan, according to recent intelligence reports released by the Afghanistan United Front Intelligence Committee. Al Qaeda is operating training camps in twelve provinces, according to the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team reported.
The Afghanistan United Front’s sources have identified the following senior Taliban leaders as key facilitators of al-Qaeda:
• Fathullah Mansoor: The son of Akhtar Mansoor, a Taliban leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike. Fathullah Mansoor, the head of the Taliban regime's Civil Aviation Authority, is one of the Taliban's senior leaders responsible for coordinating the travel and accommodation of Al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan. He also oversees the security of al-Qaida leaders in southern Afghanistan, particularly in Kandahar province.
• Sadr Ibrahim: The deputy interior minister of the Taliban regime, responsible for providing training camps, accommodations, weapons, vehicles, and documents for Al-Qaeda fighters and their families. Sadr Ibrahim is one of the Taliban’s closest associates with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
• Qari Fasihuddin: The Taliban’s Chief of Staff, responsible for training, equipping, and integrating Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, especially Ansarullah of Tajikistan; the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU); and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which consists of Uyghur Muslims from China. These groups are focused on Central Asia and are linked to al-Qaida.
• Mullah Fazel: A former Guantanamo Bay detainee and currently the deputy defense minister of the Taliban. Under his direction, thousands of different types of weapons, vehicles, and resources have been provided to al-Qaida.
America, as it did before 9-11, is once again overlooking the threat of terrorism, providing an opportunity for terrorist groups to plan and prepare their future operations with ease.
Thus, it’s beyond time for the United States government to organize, train, and equip the resistance. There are thousands of young, western-trained Afghan warriors in the United States eager to retake our country. We know the Taliban, we know their weakness, and we are motivated to liberate our daughters, mothers, and sisters who are living under a gender apartheid regime. We do not want US boots with us on the ground; we are asking for political and technical support, which the US can easily afford.
Regardless of what Deputy CIA Director David Cohen says, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are your enemies, and the most reliable friends the US has in Afghanistan are its former Afghan allies, especially the young general officers who studied in the West and are supported in Afghanistan.
We are ready to fight to liberate our country. We just need your support.
Colonel Parwani Sahil is an Afghan Commando and was the former Director of Intelligence of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He currently serves in the Afghan United Front.