UN: Al-Qaeda still in contact with Taliban; concerns over security threats to Afghanistan persist

Kabul Times News | Afghanistan

Alexander Zoyev, head of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office, has announced that despite a decrease in its activities, the Al-Qaeda network is still present in Afghanistan and has maintained its complex relations with Taliban officials.

He also described the ISIS Khorasan branch and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the most active armed groups in Afghanistan and expressed concern about the continued activities of these groups.

These statements come at a time when the Taliban administration has repeatedly emphasized that it will not allow Afghan soil to be used to threaten the security of other countries; a claim that has been questioned in recent reports by the UN and some international organizations.

At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have also warned about security threats emanating from Afghanistan. According to regional officials, the continued presence of armed groups has posed serious challenges to the process of normalizing Afghanistan's relations with the international community.