Al-Qaeda still 'heavily embedded' within Taliban in Afghanistan, UN official warns - 0 views
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Al-Qaeda is still "heavily embedded" within the Taliban in Afghanistan, in spite of a historic US-Taliban agreement earlier this year, a senior United Nations official has told the BBC.
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withdrawing all American forces from the country by next summer if the Taliban ensured groups including al-Qaeda were not able to use Afghan territory to plot international attacks.
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its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is believed to still be based in Afghanistan along with a number of other senior figures in the group.
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they aim only to implement an "Islamic government" within Afghanistan, and will not pose a threat to any other country.
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US withdrawal plans were no longer "condition based" but "agenda based", suggesting President Trump's overriding priority is to end America's longest-ever war.
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Rahmatullah Andar, a former Taliban commander and now spokesman for the Afghan government's National Security Council, warned of the threat of a resurgence from al-Qaeda and other global militant groups.
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There are fears that if US troops are withdrawn next year, before an agreement has been reached, the violence could intensify and the Taliban push for a military victory.