UNITED NATIONS-
Al-Qaida’s activity in Iraq remains disproportionate to its size, and Afghanistan’s Taliban rebels continue to benefit from a close relationship with the network and other foreign terrorist groups, according to a U.N. report.
As an indication of the close relationship between al-Qaida and the Taliban, the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against the two groups said “new explosive devices are now used in Afghanistan within a month of their first appearing in Iraq.”
“And while the Taliban have not been found fighting outside Afghanistan/Pakistan, there have been reports of them training in both Iraq and Somalia,” the committee’s terrorism experts said.
By contrast, it said, al-Qaida is not only operating in Iraq but there have been many attacks elsewhere that have promoted al-Qaida objectives, “even if mounted by unconnected groups or individuals with narrowed sectarian or political aims.”
The new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq purportedly said in an audio message posted online Thursday that more than 4,000 foreign militants have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003–the first apparent acknowledgment from the insurgents about their losses.
The Internet message was posted by a man who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir–also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri–the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. The voice could not be independently identified.
The U.N. report examined gains and losses in the last six months for al-Qaida and the Taliban.
“The violence in Afghanistan has increased considerably, and there has been no let up in Iraq, with al-Qaida’s contribution remaining disproportionate to its size,” the report said. A U.S.-led invasion ousted Afghanistan’s Taliban-led regime in late 2001.
It cited the deaths of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, who masterminded the 2004 school hostage-taking in Beslan, Russia, and other significant losses in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“There have been many arrests and disrupted plots, only some of which have been announced publicly,” the report added, without elaborating.
Despite serious damage to al-Qaida’s leadership, the experts said Taliban gains in Afghanistan are evident in the surge of violence that has led to more than 2,000 deaths between January and July.
“While ideological support for the Taliban may be low, high levels of unemployment, poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and a general sense of insecurity have made farmers vulnerable to Taliban inducements on the one hand and intimidation on the other,” the experts’ report said.
“By murdering non-Taliban imams, school teachers and tribal and community leaders who might have encouraged a new generation of Afghans to believe in the possibility of peace, the Taliban have managed to undermine earlier progress and have further highlighted the huge problems that face the Afghan government,” it said.
On the down side for al-Qaida, the report noted that several intelligence and security agencies said fewer foreign fighters have been killed or captured in Iraq in the last few months, “suggesting that the flow has slackened.” On returning home, they noted that some fighters had expressed dissatisfaction that they were asked to kill fellow Muslims rather than foreign soldiers and that the only role for them was to be suicide bombers.
“As Iraq continues to slide towards civil war, al-Qaida may paradoxically see more losses than gains,” it said.
“It has gained by continuing to play a central role in the fighting and in encouraging the growth of sectarian violence; and Iraq has provided many recruits and an excellent training ground,” the report said.
But it said “the prominent role of al-Qaida may diminish as the violence escalates between communities, and distinctions blur between sectarian attacks on markets and places of worship, or purely criminal kidnapping and protection rackets on the one hand, and the fight against Iraqi and non-Iraqi forces on the other.”
In July 2005, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to clamp down on terrorist financing and expand sanctions to affiliates and splinter groups of al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Sanctions require all 192 U.N. member states to freeze financial assets and impose a travel ban and arms embargo against Afghanistan’s former Taliban leaders, Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida and those “associated with” them.
By the end of July, the report said the list of those subject to sanctions included 478 names–142 individuals and one entity associated with the Taliban and 213 individuals and 122 entities associated with al-Qaida.
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