Since regaining control of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban has promised the world it will not allow the country to become a hub for international terrorism. In a highly publicized agreement with the United States, the Taliban pledged not to let Al-Qaeda, the terror group responsible for the 9/11 attacks, use Afghan soil to threaten the security of the U.S. and its allies. However, less than a month after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, U.S. security experts have warned that Al-Qaeda could reconfigure itself in Afghanistan within a few years.
According to former European Union and United Nations adviser Michael Semple, this forecast may be overly optimistic. Semple points out that Al-Qaeda could rebuild much faster due to the favorable environment provided by the Taliban’s new regime. The appointment of Mullah Tajmir Jawad as the deputy head of intelligence underlines this concern. Jawad, a former commander of the Haqqani network, is now overseeing the most sensitive areas of Afghanistan’s security. Before his appointment, he was reportedly running a suicide bomber training camp—a grim signal of the environment Al-Qaeda now enjoys in Afghanistan.
Jawad’s appointment is not an isolated case. The Haqqani network, a brutal wing of the Taliban with........