The leadership of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda* includes at least three Kazakhstanis
MAZARI-SHARIF, May 30 - Sangar, Qari Ahmad. They were appointed by al-Qaeda to leadership positions in other terrorist organizations such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan*, Jamaat Ansarullah* and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement*.
A Taliban* intelligence official in Mazar-i-Sharif told Sangar website that a man named Qari Subhanullah, also known as Qari Atash, a citizen of Kazakhstan, is in the northern provinces of Afghanistan.
“He was in Kabul from 11 to 19 January 2022 and is one of the most active people of Al-Qaeda in Kazakhstan and took an active part in the January protests in this country. He contacted his people in Kazakhstan via Telegram,” the source said.
The Kazakh authorities described the January protests in more than 10 major cities of the country as “an organized and prepared act of aggression against Kazakhstan”, which involved "foreign fighters, mainly from Central Asian countries, including Afghanistan, who also had experience of war in the Middle East.” Documents were promised at the time, but so far no evidence has been presented.
According to the source, Qari Atash has three cars, one of which is a Land Cruiser and the other two are Tayota Hilux, and they do not have state numbers.
“He is always accompanied by eight armed men, apparently Central Asian Kazakhs or Uzbeks, whom he takes with him wherever he goes as bodyguards. Qari Atash has very close ties to al-Qaeda and, with the support of Aminulhaq, has been appointed head of intelligence for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan,” the source said.
Aminulhaq, a former assistant and commander of Osama bin Laden (the founder of al-Qaeda)'s bodyguards, who now has offices in Kabul and Nangarhar and is the organization's link to the Taliban's security forces.
According to the source, Qari Atash arrived in Afghanistan from Pakistan, and when he was in Kabul, he stayed at the Qasri Sulaiman Hotel, opposite Boghi Bolo Park, the fourth district of the Afghan capital.
“Aminulhaq prepared this place for him, and from there he went to Juzjan province and joined the militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan,” the source said.
Qari Subhanulla, or Qari Atash, is the third Kazakh named in intelligence reports in recent months. Earlier, Sangar sources reported the presence in the provinces of Juzjan and Faryab of a citizen of Kazakhstan, “Abdurauf Aka,” who is currently the chief commander of al-Qaeda's foreign forces in these provinces. According to the latest information, this person is now based in Qalai Naw, the center of Badghis province.
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At the moment, new details have emerged about the presence of foreign fighters in the province of Badghis, mainly citizens of Central Asia and Pakistan. According to new data, about 100 families of foreign fighters live in the villages of Iskhaqzai, Kabuliho, Khumi Mavlavi, Shahmir, Dahani Bukal and Akozai in the Bala Murgab district of Badghis province.
“These families have been resettled in these villages in the past three months with the help of the Taliban. These villages are located approximately 10-12 km from the Turkmen-Afghan border,” the report says.
The third person, a citizen of Kazakhstan, is a man by name, most likely nicknamed "Haji Furqan". He was stationed in the Khostak Valley of the Afghan province of Badakhshan during the Republic time in Afghanistan and was appointed by al-Qaeda as the commander-in-chief of foreign terrorist organizations, including the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Jamaat-e-Ansarullah. Representatives of the latter two organizations were also appointed as his deputies.
Haji Forqan himself was the leader of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. In the sources, he is also mentioned as a Chechen or Uighur, a native of Kazakhstan.
According to recent reports, when China, the main backer of the Taliban regime, asked them to hand over the Uyghurs to Beijing and even sent a delegation of its intelligence agencies to Afghanistan, the Haqqani Network* sent Haji Forqan and other Uyghurs to Helmand and Paktia provinces, al-Qaeda bases. When the Chinese achieved nothing and reconciled with the reality, the Uyghurs returned to the northern provinces, but this time to Juzjan and Faryab.
* The organization is under UN sanctions or banned due to terrorist activities.
