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Afghan Government Says Taliban Maintaining Ties With Al-Qaida

Roshan Noorzai

   WASHINGTON - The Afghan government says that the killing of a
   high-ranking al-Qaida leader in a Taliban safe haven in eastern
   Afghanistan last month is an indication that the Taliban is not keeping
   up with its pledge to end ties with al-Qaida.
   "Unfortunately, the Taliban still provide a safe environment for these
   terrorist groups to operate," Siddeq Siddiqqui, a spokesperson for the
   Afghan government, told VOA.
   "The Taliban harbor of al-Qaida operatives is contrary to Taliban's
   commitment to cut ties with foreign terrorist groups," Siddiqqui said,
   referring to the U.S.-Taliban deal in February that required the
   Taliban to stop supporting terrorist groups such as Islamic State (IS)
   and al-Qaida.
   The Afghan government said on October 24 that its forces had killed a
   senior al-Qaida leader, Abu Muhsin al-Masri, in a Taliban-controlled
   area in the eastern province of Ghazni.
   The country's National Directorate of Intelligence (NDS) said al-Masri
   was a close aide to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and had supported
   the Taliban and Haqqani Network for years. It said he was living in
   Ghazni under Taliban protection.
   Al-Masri, who was 61 or 62 years old, is also known as Husam Abd
   al-Ra'uf and had been on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Most
   Wanted Terrorist list since December 2018. The White House has called
   his death "welcome news" and praised Afghan security forces for their
   operation.
   According to Vahidullah Jumah Zada, a spokesperson for the governor of
   Ghazni, Taliban fighters were with al-Masri when Afghan forces
   conducted their raid.
   "'A Taliban commander, Emran Hanzalah, and [a] few other fighters were
   killed," Jumah Zada told VOA's Afghan Service last week.
   The Taliban group is yet to formally respond to the government claim
   that it has been sheltering al-Masri.
   When asked by local Tolo News on Wednesday about the accusation,
   Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Naeem refused to comment on al-Masri's
   killing but insisted that "right now, there is no al-Qaida presence in
   Afghanistan."
   Al-Masri's killing comes as the Afghan chief of army staff, Yasin Zia,
   said Thursday that Afghan forces have killed a number of al-Qaida
   members in a separate operation in the western province of Farah.

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