Long War Journal: In the latest issue of pamphlets released by al Qaeda’s central as-Sahab media entitled “This is Gaza: A War of Existence, Not a War of Borders,” Sayf al-Adl, believed to be al Qaeda’s current overall emir, calls on supporters around the world to migrate to Afghanistan.
In doing so, this offers the most clear and open call for foreigners to join al Qaeda’s ranks in Afghanistan since the Taliban captured the country in 2021. Adl’s message thus acts to officially pronounce Afghanistan as a safe-haven for al Qaeda and its future plans.
Adl, writing under the pseudonym Salim al-Sharif, plainly states that “the loyal people of the Ummah [worldwide Islamic community] interested in change must go to Afghanistan, learn from its conditions, and benefit from their [the Taliban’s] experience.”
In making this call for hijrah [migration], Adl uses the current war in Gaza as a catalyst to encourage people to travel to Afghanistan to gain training, experience, and knowledge before undertaking attacks against so-called “Zionist” and Western targets around the world.
Al Qaeda’s current status in Afghanistan
Al Qaeda has established a significant amount of infrastructure in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized control of the country in August 2021, according to reports by the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team. Additionally, “the relationship between the Taliban and Al-Qaida remains close,” the Monitoring Team reported.
Al Qaeda operates training camps in 10 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. The camps are operational in the provinces of Badghis, Helmand, Ghazni, Kunar, Laghman, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Parwan, Uruzgan, and Zabul. An al Qaeda leader known as Hakim al Masri is “is responsible for the training camps and conducting suicide bomber training for TTP,” or the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, an ally of al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban.
In the central Afghan province of Panjshir, the former bastion of the anti-Taliban National Resistance Front, al Qaeda has established a new base “to stockpile weaponry.”
In the provinces Laghman, Kunar, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Parwan, al Qaeda is operating five madrasas, or religious schools.
Al Qaeda also maintains safe houses in Herat, Farah, Helmand, and Kabul provinces, according to the Monitoring Team. Al Qaeda “maintains safe houses” in Herat, Farah and Helmand “to facilitate the movement [of members] between Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran.” One al Qaeda safe house in Kabul was exposed in July 2022, when the U.S. killed Zawahiri.
Both Adl and his deputy, ‘Abd al Rahman al Maghrebi, are believed to have traveled from Iran into Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of the country.
Adl is thought to have succeeded Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s last emir who was killed in a U.S. drone strike on a Taliban safe house in the Afghan capital of Kabul. The safe house was managed by a lieutenant of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the IEA minister of interior and one of the Taliban’s two deputy emirs. Sirajuddin’s powerful Haqqani Network is listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization for its close ties to al Qaeda. Sirajuddin and many of his top lieutenants are also labeled as Specially Designated Global Terrorists by the U.S.
Neither al Qaeda nor the Taliban acknowledged Zawahiri’s death. The Taliban does not want to provide evidence of its close relationship with al Qaeda to avoid international condemnation. Al Qaeda does not want to bring condemnation on its Taliban host, nor does it want to draw attention to the fact that its new leader, Adl, is based in Iran.