Taliban commander admits thousands of foreign fighters are embedded within group

[TomSea]

Taliban commander admits thousands of foreign fighters are embedded within group | FDD's Long War Journal
Bill Roggio


The image above is from a Taliban video released in Dec. 2016. The video, entitled “Bond of Nation with the Mujahideen,” is replete with imagery and speeches that promote the enduring Taliban-al Qaeda relationship. Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Nasir al Wuhayshi are shown side by side with top Taliban leaders.

In a startling admission, a senior leader in the Afghan Taliban told NBC News that “thousands” of foreign fighters are currently embedded in the group in Afghanistan. The admission is astonishing as the Taliban has attempted to obscure its relationship with al Qaeda, even though it slips up every now and then. FDD’s Long War Journal has maintained for the last eight years that US military and intelligence estimates of between 50 to 100 al Qaeda in Afghanistan (later modified to 200) have been woefully low.

The Taliban leader, who has not been named, admitted this to NBC News as the group was conducting negotiations with the US in Qatar. From the report:

    A senior Afghan Taliban commander who is also a member of the group’s leadership council told NBC News that there were around 2,000 to 3,000 non-Afghan fighters in their midst, mostly from China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Chechnya, Tunisia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Read more at: https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/12/taliban-commander-admits-thousands-of-foreign-fighters-are-embedded-within-group.php