- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
MILITANT outfit Al-Qaeda on Tuesday (31) called for the “liberation” of Kashmir and other so-called Islamic lands from the “clutches of the enemies of Islam” while congratulating the Taliban after their return to power in Afghanistan.
The group issued a detailed statement hours after the Taliban declared that Afghanistan gained “full independence” following the withdrawal of the American forces and it referred to its long-standing calls for the so-called liberation of regions like Palestine, Levant, Somalia and Yemen.
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“0’ Allah! Liberate the Levant, Somalia, Yemen, Kashmir and the rest of the Islamic lands from the clutches of the enemies of Islam. 0’ Allah! Grant freedom to Muslim prisoners across the world,” said the message titled “Congratulations to the Islamic Ummah on the victory granted by Allah in Afghanistan!”
The statement, however, made no explicit mention about East Turkestan or human rights abuses in the Xinjiang province of China.
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Al Qaeda’s call would add to concerns of security analysts who are fearing that the Taliban’s return to power will energise terror groups active across South Asia.
One of the conditions of the peace deal that the Taliban signed with the US in February last year was that the extremist group should cut its ties with all terror groups, particularly Al-Qaeda. However, reports issued by the United Nations Security Council’s monitoring team in recent times have said that there is yet no evidence that the Taliban have severed its ties with Al-Qaeda.
“We praise the Almighty, the Omnipotent, who humiliated and defeated America, the head of disbelief. We praise Him for breaking America’s back, tarnishing its global reputation and expelling it, disgraced and humiliated, from the Islamic land of Afghanistan,” the al-Qaeda message said. “Afghanistan is undoubtedly a graveyard of empires and an impregnable fortress of Islam. With the defeat of the Americans, this is the third time that the Afghan nation, within a span of less than two centuries, has successfully defeated and expelled an invading imperialist power.”
The defeat of the “American Empire of Evil” is a “tremendous source of inspiration for the oppressed of the world”, the statement said, and offered al-Qaeda’s congratulations to the Taliban leadership, especially its chief Haibatullah Akhundzada, who is yet to be seen in public despite the Taliban’s recapturing power. The militant group has confirmed that he is currently in Afghanistan.
