In the Afghan areas near the Uzbek-Turkmen border, an undeclared mini-state of al-Qaeda* and its terrorist allies have existed for many years.
Author: Former Afghan national security officer
In 2008, with the assistance of the government of Hamid Karzai and the United States, the first Al-Qaeda base was established on the territory between the predominantly Uzbek provinces of Faryab, Saripul, Juzjan, and the Tajik province of Gur.
This region has the shape of a circle and is a very rare territory from the point of view of the special services. It covers the valleys of Avkaf, Zamch, Qal’ashakhr of the Kuhistanat (Sarpul) region from the east, the regions of Qushteppa and Jarquduq (Juzjan) from the north, the regions of Darzab and Belchiragh (Faryab) from the west, and the region of Darai Murghab (Gur) from the south.
Its location is such that al-Qaeda can reach all of Afghanistan - through Kuhistanat to Baghlan, Kunduz, and Badakhshan, through Juzjan to Balkh and Samangan, from Faryab to Badghis and Herat, from Ghor to Helmand and other southern provinces. Its members are free to move in these directions.
In October 2020, the daughter of Tahir Yuldash (founder of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan*) entered the region from Pakistan through Badakhshan, Kunduz, and Baghlan with about 200 heavily armed militants. Last February, Nasreddin, the grandson of Osama bin Laden (the founder of al-Qaeda), and Saifuddin, the son of Sirajuddin Haqqani (the founder of the Haqqani network, now the Taliban's interior minister), also arrived in the region via Helmand and Ghor, while Zubair, Osama's nephew bin Laden entered the area from Badghis. All of them left the region through these paths. These safe routes were well known to both former Afghan and American intelligence.
This territory is now, de facto, a safe and full-fledged mini-state of Al-Qaeda and its regional partners. It is home to about 7,000 families of members of terrorist organizations. Most of them are Uzbeks from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. There are also Arabs, Pakistanis, Uighurs and citizens of other Central Asian countries.
Good relations have developed between them and local residents, first of all, family ties have been strengthened. They have several schools, training camps, educational centers, bazaars, hospitals, and mosques. Teachers, mosque imams, trainers, shopkeepers, bakers, and others also come from these organizations. In practice, they have created a structure that is completely controlled by their own forces.
Their commander was Aziz Yoldash, and their political leader was and still is Bibi Mukarrama, children of Tahir Yoldash. Aziz Yuldash was killed in November 2020. Now his sister is in charge. Omar, the son of Juma Namangani and Hekmat, the youngest son of Tahir Yuldash, and a man named Ilham, whose nationality is unknown, are among the commanders of the Central Asian detachments.
Currently, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of terrorist organizations is a citizen of Kazakhstan named Abdurauf Aka. Sheikh Qudus, a Russian citizen (Chechen) is in charge of the Al-Qaida forces in Juzjan and Faryab provinces.
The sources of funding for the groups are unclear, but there were reports that they received the money in hawala through a construction company in Faryab.
Al-Qaeda has acquired modern weapons such as M4s, M16s, and Rangers and Humvees since the Americans left. They got them as "ghanimat" - trophies from the former Afghan army and police, most of all in the provinces of Faryab and Badghis. Bicycles used to be their main means of transport.
Daesh, which is said to be activated in northern Afghanistan, belongs to these groups, as well as other foreign terrorist organization groups in northern Afghanistan. For example, this group includes a person who carried out a missile attack on the borders of Uzbekistan. His missiles, fired from Afghan territory, hit the northern forests of the Amu Darya.
Makhdum Alim, an Uzbek Taliban commander who was detained by the Taliban in January and released a few days ago, was one of the liaisons between Al-Qaeda, the former governments, and Americans. Most likely, the Taliban again made him responsible for coordinating actions with these groups. ISIS attacks have intensified in northern Afghanistan since its liberation.
Marshal Dostum repeatedly requested permission from Kabul to overthrow the "al-Qaeda government" during Karzai-Ghani's government but was always denied. He repeatedly raised the issue of the widespread presence of foreign terrorists at official events, but to no avail.
When do al-Qaeda forces come into play? Then, when the Taliban are weakened by internal strife and the fight against the anti-Taliban front, and the Haqqani network gains strength against the Kandahar group, all terrorist groups will unite under a single command, most likely under the banner of ISIS.
End of report
Editor's Note: Sangar is printing these alarm reports to inform the societies of Afghanistan and Central Asia.
*The organization is under UN sanctions for terrorist activities.
