Taliban faces international accusations of sponsoring terrorism

Nahla Abdel Moneim

The challenges facing the Afghan Taliban have increased since it came to power in August 2021, as it is currently facing various accusations from the United Nations of the movement sponsoring terrorist groups, especially al-Qaeda, in addition to the existence of conflicts and defections among its leaders, who are unexperienced in governing.

Taliban defections and their impact on the movement

The UN Security Council issued a report this June stating that there are differences between the Taliban leaders, pointing out that some of the movement’s leaders resorting to establishing their headquarters in Kandahar as a center of power instead of the capital, Kabul, indicates the existence of differences between the Taliban leaders.

Kandahar was a center of government during the period of the first authority of the Taliban and represented a symbolic dimension for the movement, but the Security Council report saw the establishment of offices by some leaders in Kandahar as evidence of divisions over visions of governance, in addition to conflicts over the shares of Afghanistan’s financial resources, which doubles the chances of violent infighting over power.

For his part, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the report, accusing the Security Council of seeking to cause sedition by spreading misleading information about the new authority in Afghanistan.

Accusations of the Taliban sponsoring terrorism

In mid-June, the United Nations issued a serious report on the increase in the activities of terrorist groups in Afghanistan since the Taliban came to power, pointing to the growing capabilities of ISIS and al-Qaeda in the region.

The United Nations relies on intelligence information stating that ISIS has enjoyed higher combat and military capabilities since the Taliban came to power, and that the terrorist organization has benefited from a slackness in security to expand its base of influence and increase recruitment to its ranks, in addition to launching violent operations that it used in media promotion to increase its strength in the region. On the other hand, the movement also has not severed its relationship with al-Qaeda, as there is still cooperation between al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders.

These reports bear serious significance of accusations against the Taliban for its inability to fulfill its international obligations towards protecting the region from the growth of terrorism. The agreement signed between the leaders of the movement and the United States in February 2020 for the military withdrawal of the latter’s forces from the country included articles on the Taliban’s pledge to prevent Afghanistan from turning into a major terrorist camp or platform for making offensive threats against the outside, which is most important for Western countries.

Complex and manifold relationships

Regarding the increase in terrorism in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s role in that, Michael Kugelman, vice president of the Asian program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington and a writer for the Foreign Policy magazine, said in a statement to the Reference that the Taliban’s direct and sharp severing of its relationship with al-Qaeda is not likely, as the relations between them are complex and manifold, pointing out that what matters most to the United States and the West is that the country is not used to launch attacks against them, more than whether or not there is a relationship between the two organizations.