The Taliban and Al Qaeda:  Gathered by terrorism and separated by interests and objectives

The eighth round of negotiations between the Afghan Taliban and the US government, concluded its activities in order to reach a peace agreement to end the conflict in the Afghan territory for 70 years, without reaching anything, while the name of al Qaeda emerged as one of the factors threatening the expected agreement.

Peace talks: Wall collision negotiations

In the midst of peace talks, the United States has signaled that the Taliban should abandon al-Qaeda, against the backdrop of the US position on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in exchange for a deal with the Afghan movement seeking to govern.

In an interview a few days ago, Taliban chief spokesman Suhail Shahin said in Qatar that al Qaeda was not the perpetrator of the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States – a terrorist act that propelled the US-led invasion into Afghanistan and sparked a nearly two-decade conflict.

Qatar is hosting the peace talks, and Shahin said: “It is not known who is behind it.” “If there is evidence presented to us, we are ready to try him,” he said, referring to the Twin Towers attack in Washington.

Although the late al-Qaeda leader claimed to be responsible for the attacks, years earlier, the organization’s evasions had been denied.

Decades of denial

Adam Taylor, a writer for The Washington Post, explains the decades-long denial of al-Qaeda links and attacks. The former Afghan president, backed by the United States, supported Hamid Karzai in saying that it is a “fact” that the September 11 attacks in Afghanistan were not planned, and pointed out that al Qaeda was a “myth”.