Is the Taliban's Afghanistan a Safe Haven for Terrorist Organizations?

The Diplomat

2 days ago

Although their capabilities have diminished, the latest U.N. report noted the continued presence of ISKP, al-Qaida, and affiliate groups like the TTP in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
This handout photo from Pakistan's ISPR shows guns and other military equipment purportedly seized from TTP fighters in Pishin District, Oct. 18, 2024. Pakistani authorities claim the TTP receives both supplies and safe haven from across the border in Afghanistan.
On July 24, the United Nations Security Council's Monitoring Committee released its 36th report on the Islamic State (ISIS), also known as Daesh, as well as al-Qaida and associated groups. The report indicates that the threat from ISIS, al-Qaida, and their affiliates remains 'diverse and dynamic.'
In Asia, the report focused only on two regions – South Asia and Southeast Asia – and it was clear the former was the larger concern. In particular, the report underscored 'growing concerns about the threat from foreign terrorist fighters' in South Asia – and especially in Afghanistan.
'The de facto authorities in Afghanistan continued to maintain a permissive environment for a range of terrorist groups, including Al-Qaida and its affiliates, posing a serious threat to the security of Central Asian and other countries,' the report stated.
The Monitoring Committee said that al-Qaida's presence in Afghanistan – which mainly consists of fighters of Arab origin who had fought alongside the Taliban in the past – 'had been drastically downsized' and thus 'did not present an immediate threat for regional States.' According to the report, al-Qaida's presence was limited to just six provinces of Afghanistan: Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, Kunar, Uruzgan and Zabul. However, the report also noted al-Qaida's stated ambition 'to reactivate cells in Iraq, the Syrian Arab Republic, Libya and Europe.'
The report also identified three new training sites, although 'likely to be small and rudimentary,' for fighters belonging to both al-Qaida and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – an anti-Pakistani terrorist group operating mainly from Afghan soil. Pakistan's government has repeatedly accused the Taliban regime in Afghanistan of providing safe haven to the TTP, which has stepped up its attacks on Pakistani targets. The Taliban have consistently denied such claims, but the U.N. report found that the TTP 'continued to receive substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities' in Afghanistan (i.e. the Taliban government).
Besides al-Qaida and its affiliates, ISIS, with its local affiliate Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), also maintains its presence and is active in Afghanistan, which seems to be of major concern not only to the international community but also to the Taliban. The report identified ISKP as 'the most serious threat, both regionally and internationally' of any terrorist group in South Asia.
The group is actively recruiting both within Afghanistan as well as abroad, 'including among Central Asian States and the Russian North Caucasus.' According to the report, in areas in Northern Afghanistan and close to the borders with Pakistan, ISKP 'has indoctrinated children in madrassas, establishing a suicide training course for minors aged approximately 14 years old.'
The primary targets of ISKP in Afghanistan are the Taliban authorities, Shia communities, and foreigners. Its fighters, which the report estimated at around 2,000 in number, are mainly concentrated in Afghanistan's north and northeast, with the leadership mostly ethnic Pashruns and the 'rank and file… now mostly of Central Asian origin.' This transnational link indicates the level of threat the ISKP poses to the region and beyond.
The U.N. report acknowledged that the capabilities of ISKP have diminished due to the Taliban's efforts to root out the group. However, despite this reduction in strength, ISKP continues to 'operate with relative impunity, exploiting discontent with Taliban governance,' the report alleged.
The Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, rejected the report, labeling it as 'propagandistic.' He stated: 'Since the Islamic Emirate came to power, no rogue or illegal group has been allowed here, nor will they be in the future. Foreign groups are not permitted to operate in Afghanistan and are not present. Claims made by such institutions are made in a propagandistic manner – we reject them. They are untrue and far from reality.'
Besides Mujahid, the Taliban's Chief of Army Staff Qari Fasihuddin Fitrat also claimed that the report's claims about the ISKP presence in Afghanistan are baseless. 'The noise regarding Daesh or foreign terrorists allegedly present in Afghanistan is nothing more than a propaganda campaign against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan [the formal name of the Taliban's regime], intended to distort the reality on the ground,' he insisted.
Regarding the ISKP, Fitrat said, 'This so-called Daesh project, allegedly originating from beyond our borders, is nothing but a tool of psychological and propaganda warfare.' However, neither Mujahid nor Fitrat commented on the presence of al-Qaida and its affiliates in Afghanistan. Unlike ISKP, which takes the Taliban as one of its main targets, al-Qaida has traditionally had close ties with the Taliban, making it difficult for the current regime to take action against the terrorist group.
According to Ali Maisam Nazary, the top diplomat for Afghanistan's National Resistance Front (NRF), al-Qaida has set up nine new terrorist camps in Afghanistan in 2024. 'These are training centers; these are recruitment centers, and the Taliban have even allowed al-Qaida to build bases and munitions depots in the heart of the Panjshir Valley,' he alleged. '[That's] something unheard of, something impossible even in the 1990s for al-Qaida to have achieved.'
Although their capabilities have diminished, the presence of ISKP, al-Qaida, and affiliate groups like the TTP in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is undeniable. These terrorist organizations pose a serious threat not only to regional security but also to the security of Afghanistan itself. The sooner the Taliban, as the de facto rulers of Afghanistan, acknowledge this reality and take action against these terrorist groups, the better it will be for both the country's and the region's security.