213: Al Qaeda's clear and well-known links to the Taliban @billroggio @thomasjoscelyn @FDD
Image: Durand Line Border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Public domain. Tom Joscelyn, Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies; & Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal; and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; @billroggio @thomasjoscelyn; in re: The United Nations Security Council added Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan emir Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud (Wali) to its list of terrorist leaders and operatives who associated with Al Qaeda. While Wali’s Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, or TTP) has carried out few major attacks inside Pakistan, it has stepped up small-scale operations against Pakistani security forces in North and South Waziristan over the past several months. The UNSC added Wali to the Al Qaeda Sanctions List on July 16, 2020, for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of” Al Qaeda. https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2020/07/un-sanctions-emir-of-the-pakistani-talibanz.php (https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2020/07/un-sanctions-emir-of-the-pakistani-taliban.php) Drone strikes in three Afgh provinces: Taliban accuses the US of violating the “peace” deal. In fact, there’s nothing in the withdrawal deal that says either side needs to stop attacking until the deal is fully consummated.