Backchannel Consultations During Peace Talks Would Run Counter To Security
Council Demands


<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
U.N. Report: Taliban Maintains Ties To Al-Qaeda

Backchannel Consultations During Peace Talks Would Run Counter To Security
Council Demands

(New York, N.Y.) – A new report <[link removed]> released
by the United Nations (U.N.) last week revealed that theTaliban
<[link removed]> maintained routine
consultations withal-Qaeda <[link removed]>,
despite the Taliban’s peace deal with the United States. According to the
report, about 400 to 600 armed al-Qaeda operatives are stationed in
Afghanistan. The February 29 peace agreement saw the Taliban agree to prevent
al-Qaeda from operating in Afghanistan in order for U.S. troops to gradually
withdraw from Afghanistan. Despite the conditions of the negotiations, the two
extremist groups reportedly exchanged guarantees to honor their historic ties.
Such an agreement would run counter toU.N. Security Council Resolution 1988
<[link removed]>, which demands the Taliban break
ties with al-Qaeda, accept the Afghan constitution and renounce violence. The
U.N. report also states that the Taliban and al-Qaedaheld meetings
<[link removed]>
throughout 2019 and early 2020 to discuss training and operational planning.

Al-Qaeda has long pledged allegiance to the Taliban, which provided sanctuary
to al-Qaeda after the United States turned its military focus on the group
following the 9/11 attacks. In June 2016, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri
reaffirmed al-Qaeda’s allegiance by publicly endorsing the Taliban’s new
leader, Mullah Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada. While allied with the Taliban,
al-Qaeda established several training camps in Afghanistan, including the
sprawling Tarnak Farms, where Osama bin Laden allegedly plotted 9/11.

In February 2020, U.S. and Taliban negotiators reached a preliminary deal that
demanded a reduction in violence from the insurgent camp in exchange for a
drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The United States agreed to draw its
forces down from 13,000 to 8,600 in the next three to four months, with the
remaining U.S. forces withdrawing in 14 months. In exchange, the Taliban agreed
to renounce al-Qaeda and prevent al-Qaeda and other groups from using
Afghanistan as a base for terrorism against the United States. The Taliban also
agreed to negotiate a permanent ceasefire with other Afghan militants and the
Afghan government. The U.S. troop drawdown is dependent on the Taliban
maintaining its commitments.

To read CEP’s Taliban resource, please click here
<[link removed]>.

To read CEP’s Al-Qaeda resource, please click here
<[link removed]>.

To read CEP’s Afghanistan resource, please click here
<[link removed]>.

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