Al-Qaeda operates under Taliban protection: UN report

Kabul : The United Nations has warned in a new report that the threat from terror groups such as Daesh and Al-Qaeda is expanding in many places in Afghanistan.
It said the security situation remains fragile with uncertainty surrounding the peace process and a risk of further deterioration.
The report by the UN Security Council, published on Thursday, said that despite territorial, leadership, manpower and financial losses during 2020 in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, Daesh’s Khorasan branch, or ISIL-K, has moved into other provinces of Afghanistan, including Nuristan, Badghis, Sar-e-Pul, Baghlan, Badakhshan, Kunduz and Kabul, where the fighters have formed sleeper cells, Tolo News reported.
The report said that the group has strengthened its positions in and around Kabul, where it conducts most of its attacks, targeting minorities, activists, government employees and personnel of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.
The report said that most recently, Daesh had claimed responsibility for the brutal attack of June 8, wherein 10 humanitarian deminers working with HALO Trust in Baghlan Province were killed and 16 others were injured.
Also Read Brazil suspends Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin clinical trials Tolo News said that in its efforts to resurge, the ISIL-K has prioritised the recruitment and training of new supporters; its leaders also hope to attract intransigent Taliban and other militants who reject the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan between the US and the Taliban, and to recruit fighters from the Syrian Arab Republic, Iraq and other conflict zones.