RASC News Agency: Sources close to Haibatullah Akhundzada claim that numerous extremist Sunni jihadist groups, ranging from South Asia to North Africa, have pledged allegiance to the Taliban leader. These sources report that organizations like al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have formally aligned with the Taliban over the past three years.
Historically, al-Qaeda, under the leadership of Osama bin Laden, was the first terrorist organization to swear allegiance to the Taliban in 1995, during the group’s first regime, pledging loyalty to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the founding leader of the Taliban. This allegiance has been reaffirmed several times. Al-Qaeda, led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, renewed its pledge to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, and after Mansoor’s death, renewed it again to Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, the current Taliban leader.
Insiders within the Taliban have revealed that following the assassination of Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul, al-Qaeda’s new leader, Saif al-Adel, reaffirmed the group’s loyalty to Haibatullah. Armed factions linked to al-Qaeda in Africa and Yemen have similarly pledged their allegiance to Haibatullah. Among these groups are al-Shabaab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, Jamaat al-Islamiyah al-Maghreb in North-West Africa, Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, and Ansar al-Sharia in Libya—all of which operate under the umbrella of al-Qaeda. Some of these groups have independently declared their allegiance to Haibatullah Akhundzada.
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was the first and only jihadist militant group in Pakistan to swear allegiance to the Afghan/Pashtun Taliban, under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud at the time of its founding. This pledge has been renewed on several occasions, with the most recent reaffirmation made by Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, the current TTP leader, following the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan. On August 19, 2021, in a video message, Mufti Noor Wali congratulated the Taliban on their victory and once again renewed his pledge to Haibatullah Akhundzada.
Furthermore, reports indicate that several other Pakistani groups, including Jaish-e-Mohammed, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, and Lashkar-e-Taiba, have also declared their allegiance to Haibatullah Akhundzada.
