AFGHANISTAN. Kabul. Ten years ago on May 2, 2011, the United States special-operation forces took off from Jalalabad, a city in eastern Afghanistan, and killed Osama Bin Laden, the former Al-Qaeda leader, in the Pakistani military college city of Abbottabad.
Addressing the 10th anniversary of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, on Sunday, President Joe Biden said, “As we bring to an end America’s longest war and draw down the last of our troops from Afghanistan, al Qaeda is greatly degraded there, ” adding that the US will remain “vigilant” on any threat from the “terrorist groups”.
“We will continue to monitor and disrupt any threat to us that emerges from Afghanistan, ” Biden said.
“It had been almost ten years since our nation was attacked on 9/11 and we went to war in Afghanistan, pursuing al Qaeda and its leaders. We followed bin Laden to the gates of hell—and we got him. We kept the promise to all those who lost loved ones on 9/11, and that the United States will never waver in our commitment to prevent another attack on our homeland and to keep the American people safe,” he added.
“Al-Qaeda promises ‘war on all fronts”
Meanwhile, two Al-Qaeda members in an exclusive interview with CNN through intermediaries said that their “war against the U.S. will continue on all other fronts unless they are expelled from the rest of the Islamic world.”
“Al-Qaeda will continue its war against the United States after Washington’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, ” CNN quoted.
In its response to CNN, two members of al Qaeda’s subcontinent broadcast branch heap praise on the Taliban for keeping the fight against America alive.
Taliban’s cut of ties with Al-Qaeda
Based on the US-Taliban deal signed in February last year in Doha, the Taliban agreed on cutting ties with al-Qaeda, giving a guarantee for the US that Afghanistan will pose no threat to the US and its allies after foreign troops leave Afghanistan.
Since the intra-Afghan talks in Doha on September 12, 2020, the war raged in Afghanistan dramatically. The Afghan government repeatedly accused the Taliban of not cutting ties with al-Qaeda, but the Taliban has denied any sort of relationship with the network.
Afghan officials including the National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib and the interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian have repeatedly told media that the Taliban has not cut ties with Al-Qaeda
“Even though the Taliban has agreed with the US to cut ties with al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, al-Qaeda is still fighting among the Taliban,” said Rahmatullah Andar, spokesman for National Security Council.
The Afghan government reportedly said the Al-Qaeda network is still active in Afghanistan and the group still poses a threat to the country and the world.
“Taliban have not cut ties with terrorist groups, especially Al Qaeda, despite their commitments and promises. The relationship between al-Qaeda and the Taliban is strong, and the al-Qaeda still carries out terrorist activities in Afghanistan with the support of the #Taliban, ” Fawad Aman, a spokesman of the Afghanistan defense ministry said in a tweet.
