Biden “acknowledged” the absence of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan

Today, Saturday, the Taliban government considered that US President Joe Biden confirmed in an impromptu statement that there is no A threat to Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Biden was about to end a press conference, on Friday, regarding the US Supreme Court’s suspension of his student debt relief program, when asked if he admitted making mistakes during the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

And he replied, “No, no. All the evidence points to that,” according to the White House, in a transcript of his remarks.

He added, “Do you remember what I said about Afghanistan? I said that al-Qaeda will not operate there.. I said that we will get help from the Taliban. What is happening now? What is happening? Read what your press writes. I was right.”

The question was prompted by a report released on Friday stating that US officials encountered problems during mass evacuations from Afghanistan in 2021 due to a lack of clear decisions, the absence of centralized crisis management and confusing public statements.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken ordered the review after scenes of chaos during the evacuations from Kabul, which was quickly taken over by Taliban fighters after the end of the 20-year US military presence.

On Saturday, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on Biden’s statements. “We consider US President Joe Biden’s statements regarding the absence of armed groups in Afghanistan as an acknowledgment of reality,” the ministry said in a statement.

She added that this “refutes the recent report of the United Nations sanctions monitoring team, which alleges the presence and activity of more than twenty armed groups in Afghanistan.”

He had come in United Nations report in May There are indications that armed groups such as Al Qaeda are re-establishing their presence in Afghanistan.

The report stated that “the link between the Taliban and both al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban remains strong.”

He continued, “A number of terrorist groups enjoy greater freedom of movement under the de facto Taliban authorities. They are making good use of that, and the threat of terrorism is rising both in Afghanistan and in the region.”

The Taliban authorities stress that they do not allow armed groups conspiring against other countries to use the territory of Afghanistan, and deny the existence of al-Qaeda.

The Taliban did not acknowledge the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a US drone strike in central Kabul last year, and says that investigations into what happened are continuing.