UN report on the Taliban regime

A new report of the UN Security Council's Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team assessed the presence of the Al Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) terror groups in Afghanistan.

About the report:

• The monitoring team assists the UNSC sanctions committee.
• Its report, circulated among committee members, informs the formulation of UN strategy in Afghanistan.
• India is currently the chair of the sanctions committee, which comprises all the 15 UNSC members.
• This report is the 13th overall. It is the first since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

How did the monitoring team collect data?

• This is the first of its reports not informed by official Afghan briefings.
• Instead, the team relied on consultations with UN member states, international and regional organisations, private sector financial institutions, and the work of bodies such as the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

Key highlights from report:

• Two India-focussed terrorist groups, Jaish-i-Mohammed (JiM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), are reported to have training camps in Afghanistan.
• The al-Qaeda in Indian Sub-continent (AQIS) has 180-400 fighters in Afghanistan.
  • As per the report, fighters included nationals from Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Pakistan.
• The report notes that the name change of the AQIS magazine from ‘Nawa-i-Afghan Jihad’ to ‘Nawa-e-Gazwah-e-Hind’ suggests a “refocussing of AQIS from Afghanistan to Kashmir”.
• The foremost internal division in the Taliban is between the moderate and hardline blocs.
  • According to the report, under the command of Hibatullah, various Taliban factions are manoeuvring for advantage, with the Haqqani Network cornering most of the influential posts in the administration.
• The report believes the Kandahari (Durrani) Taliban to be in the ascendancy among the Taliban leadership, with Pashtuns getting precedence over non-Pashtuns. 
• The Taliban’s core identity of a Pashtun nationalist cause dominated by southern Taliban has again come to the fore, generating tension and conflict with other ethnic groups.