United States concerned over alliance of convenience among terror outfits

Washington: Alliances of convenience among terrorist networks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other nations is a big concern for the US, a top American general in Afghanistan has said.

"Al-Qaeda is linked to the Taliban, who are not a designated terrorist organisation but a violent extremist organisation and the Taliban provide a medium for designated terrorist organisations like the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and AQIS. 

These five form a loose sort of confederation that complement one another and work together," General John Nicholson, Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told CTC Sentinel of the West Point.

The Islamic State, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have also formed a loose configuration.

"So we see these alliances of convenience or where they have complementary goals come together."

"This is one of our big concerns," he said.

Responding to a question, Nicholson said al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have transnational ambitions.

"They have ambitions against the US homeland and the homelands of our allies. So that?s why they are at the top of the list. The others obviously concern us as well. Many of them have regional ambitions," he said.

"For example, al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) attacks regionally. The Haqqani network goes back and forth. We have the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] Quds Forces operating inside Afghanistan, supporting the Taliban. 

Many of these groups are based in Pakistan, and then some of them fight in Afghanistan. Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba we find these operatives showing up in Afghanistan, and so this is the convergence," Nicholson said.

As a result, the US has developed a regional agenda to combat terrorism, he said.

Responding to a question, Nicholson said safe havens in Pakistan is a major challenge towards achieving reconciliation in Afghanistan.

"Reconciliation is the end state we are after. The classic approach is you militarily incentivize them to reconcile. Of course, the problem with that is they enjoy sanctuary inside Pakistan," he said.