New UN report says Taliban group has ties with al Qaeda

WASHINGTON: The Taliban still have ties with al-qaeda and have even assured its leaders personally that the relationship will remain unaffected by a peace deal with the US, says a UN report released on Monday. The report has cast doubts on the future of the Trump administration’s much touted foreign policy achievement in the form of a peace agreement.

The UN report details the presence of 1,020 Lashkar-e-toiba fighters in Afghanistan working with the Taliban forces and 230 fighters belonging to Jaish-e-mohammad.

In an agreement signed by US and Taliban representatives in Doha on February 29, the Americans had undertaken to draw down their troops in Afghanistan in exchange for the Taliban committing to certain anti-terrorism measures, chiefly cutting ties with terror groups threatening the security of the US or its allies, and not allow them to operate from Afghanistan.

The report refers to a meeting that took place in 2019 between

Taliban officials and Hamza bin Laden, son and successor of Osama bin Laden, “to reassure him that the Islamic Emirate would not break its historical ties with al-qaeda for any price”. The al-qaeda leader’s death was announced in September.

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