UNSC: New al-Qaeda Training Camps and Radicalization Efforts in Afghanistan, Despite Taliban Claims

Rural parts of Afghanistan such as this village in Ghazni Province are now targets of al-Qaeda’s recent expansion, becoming home to its new training camps and weapons caches, among other assets.

By William Doran

The UN Security Council’s (UNSC) committee monitoring al-Qaeda reported on January 29 that the terrorist organization has opened eight new training camps in Afghanistan. According to the report, al-Qaeda has also developed several new madrasas (translated from Arabic as “places of study”) to expand the group’s recruitment and influence operations, along with a major weapons depot.

This comes two and a half years following the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s concurrent return to power. The UNSC is concerned that the Taliban has reneged on its promise to cut ties with the terrorist organization. Since withdrawing, the United States has continued remote warfare against al-Qaeda and conducted a drone strike that killed the group’s then-leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The head of al-Qaeda was present at a top Taliban official’s guest house during the strike, raising suspicions of continued cooperation between the two groups. 

Yet the international community is still uncertain that the Taliban would be willing to maintain close ties with al-Qaeda. The UNSC believes the Taliban to be operating in a conflict of interest, as supporting al-Qaeda even tacitly would run the risk of alienating UN member states from continuing to provide Afghanistan with much-needed humanitarian aid. Since mid-2021, the United States has spent over two billion dollars to be used for various humanitarian purposes, from providing basic services to supporting women under Taliban law. 

The report claims that al-Qaeda now operates eight new training camps, five madrasas, and a weapons base. The group now holds an active presence in at least 10 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, particularly the eastern provinces of Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan, Panjshir (the site of al-Qaeda’s weapons base), and Uruzgan, among others. The madrasas are of particular concern, as the reports claim that al-Qaeda has been indoctrinating and recruiting children under the guise of religious education. Although the UNSC still regards the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) as the strongest terrorist threat in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda’s recent growth may be a concern in the near future. 

Al-Qaeda’s current connections to operations and perhaps even governments outside Afghanistan continue to worry the international community. It is widely believed that Saif al-Adel, al-Qaeda’s current leader, habitually shelters in Iran, which likely maintains inroads for leaders in the western provinces of Farah, Helmand, and Herat. Likewise, analysts believe that both al-Qaeda and the Taliban support the finances and resources of Tehreek-i Taliban (TTP), a designated terrorist organization that has executed recent attacks in Pakistan. 

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid disavowed these allegations, referring to the report as “propaganda” reflecting the “opportunistic political and economic goals” of NATO states and their allies. Mujahid has denied the existence of any connections to al-Qaeda within Afghanistan despite the report’s claims.