RASC News Agency: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has disclosed in its latest report that the Taliban have stationed the elite Mansoori Brigade comprising Al-Qaeda and Ansarullah suicide bombers in Badakhshan to suppress the National Resistance Front (NRF). The report, released on February 6, highlights the deepening ties between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, revealing that the Taliban have granted Al-Qaeda extensive operational freedom across Afghanistan, allowing them to establish safe houses, training camps, and strategic bases in multiple provinces.
Al-Qaeda, a longstanding ideological and military ally of the Taliban, has actively fought alongside Taliban forces against the NRF, further cementing their battlefield cooperation. According to the report, Al-Qaeda operatives and their families have been strategically relocated to Taliban-controlled safe zones in Kabul, particularly in Qala-e-Fathullah, Shahr-e-Naw, and Wazir Akbar Khan, where they operate under the direct protection of Taliban intelligence agencies. Meanwhile, senior Al-Qaeda leadership has been moved to remote regions, including Bulghuli village in Sar-e-Pul, as well as Kunar, Ghazni, Logar, and Wardak provinces.
One of the key figures named in the report is Hamza Al-Ghamdi, a high-ranking Al-Qaeda commander and Saudi national. He is currently based with his family in Kabul’s heavily fortified Shash Darak district, an area that serves as a Taliban intelligence hub. A close associate of Osama bin Laden, Al-Ghamdi was formerly responsible for Bin Laden’s personal security. Additionally, the report confirms that the Taliban have relocated Abu Ikhlas Al-Masri, another senior Al-Qaeda commander, to a secured compound in the Afshar district of Kabul, which has been repurposed as a Taliban military training facility.
The UNSC report further states that the Taliban have deployed Ansarullah militants to Kunduz and Badakhshan, integrating them with the Mansoori Brigade’s suicide bombers in an effort to intensify operations against anti-Taliban forces.
