Taliban-Al Qaida ties yet strong

The latest findings of the UN Sanctions Committee show that al-Qaida continues its cooperation with the Taliban, providing them with religious and military training, whilst the Taliban are amid peace talks with the US.

The report also indicates that al-Qaeda has increased its financial support to the Taliban, trying to prevent the Intra-Afghan peace talks.

On the other hand, sources close to the Taliban, indicate that the Taliban has reached an agreement with the US to stop attacking the US troops and to reduce attacking the Afghan army.

Breaking up the Taliban links with terrorist groups, such as al-Qaida, is a crucial element of the talks in Doha; however, the report of the UN Sanctions Committee implies that the Taliban are still in touch with al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

Moreover, the findings in the report infer that al-Qaida is very concerned about the Taliban’s concentration on the peace talks. It adds that al-Qaida, with the intensification of financial aid to the Taliban, is trying to hold the Taliban back from the peace talks with the Afghan government.

Tamim Aasi, chair of the Institute of War and Peace Studies, said, “Americans studied the Taliban’s policy, and Gen Miller made some new suggestions and demands to the Taliban.”

Some sources, close to the Taliban, indicate that the Taliban’s negotiations on the demand of the US on ‘violence reduction’ has not concluded. However, according to some international news agencies, the Taliban have reached an agreement with the US over ‘stopping attacks on the US troops’ and ‘reducing attacks on the Afghan forces.

Nonetheless, Jalaluddin Shinwari, the former attorney general of the Taliban, said, “The Taliban has agreed not to attack the US troops and to decrease attacks on the Afghan forces. However, it has not been officially announced.”

As soon as the negotiations with NATO in Brussels are conducted, Zalmay Khalilzad will travel to Islamabad and then, to Kabul, in order to share the ‘violence reduction’ policy with the Afghan government – a policy that has been arguable to the presidential palace but welcomed by the CE Office.

Durrani Waziri, the deputy spokesperson of the president, said that ‘ceasefire’ is the only way forward to seek a ‘peace with dignity’, sustainable and long-lasting.

Even though the peace talks between the US and the Taliban are intensely in progress to apply ‘ceasefire’ or ‘reduce violence’, the war has been intensified lately leaving dozens of Afghan troopers killed and/or wounded.