Al-Qaeda leader urges supporter to go to Afghanistan for military training: Long War Journal
The Long War Journal reported, citing an article by Saif al-Adel, believed to be the current leader of al-Qaeda, that the group has called on its supporters worldwide to migrate to Afghanistan for military training and experience.
According to the report, Saif al-Adel wrote the article under the pseudonym Salim al-Sharif, titled “Gaza: An Existential War, Not a War of Borders.”
In the article attributed to al-Qaeda’s current leader, he states: “Faithful individuals who wish to bring about change should learn from the situation there and benefit from the experiences [of the Taliban].”
In what is described as the group’s “most explicit and public” call to its foreign supporters since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, al-Qaeda’s leader urged his followers to go to Afghanistan to gain military skills, experience, and knowledge before attacking targets related to Israel and the West.
Saif al-Adel also called on Muslim communities to attack interests associated with “Jewish and Western Zionists” across all Islamic lands, emphasizing that these attacks should be “painful” as “it is too late to do anything for us.”
The Long War Journal report states that the current leader of al-Qaeda is based in Iran.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, the previous leader of al-Qaeda, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Kabul on August 1, 2022. The Taliban denied al-Zawahiri’s presence and death in Afghanistan. Despite electing a new leader, al-Qaeda has remained silent on the details of al-Zawahiri’s death.
The Taliban have consistently denied the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan. However, the UN reported last year that they maintained ties with al-Qaeda.
According to the UN, al-Qaeda established eight new training camps in Afghanistan, including Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan, and Uruzgan, with an armory in Panjshir.
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