This picture taken from a video issued by as-Sahab, al-Qaida's media department, on April 5, 2022, exhibits Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri talking. (as-Sahab by way of AP)
ISLAMABAD --
A uncommon video has appeared of al Qaeda's chief praising an Indian Muslim girl who in February defied a ban on sporting the normal headband, or hijab. The footage is the primary proof in months that the person who was as soon as Osama bin Laden's No. 2 remains to be alive.
Rumours of the loss of life of Ayman al-Zawahri have persistently circulated, however in a video launched Tuesday and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, the reclusive al Qaeda chief praises Muskan Khan who defied a ban on the sporting of the hijab in colleges in India's southwestern state of Karnataka.
Two months in the past, Khan garnered consideration when she publicly shouted “God Is Nice” as Hindu radical college students jeered at her over the Islamic headband. In March, the court docket in India's Karnataka state upheld the ban, outraging civil activists and Muslim teams in India and elsewhere.
A earlier video of al-Zawahri, which circulated on the anniversary final 12 months of 9/11, didn't reference the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in mid-August. It did point out the Jan. 1, 2021 assault that focused Russian troops on the sting of the northern Syrian metropolis of Raqqa.
“He may nonetheless be useless, although in that case, it will have been sooner or later in or after Jan 2021,” SITE director Rita Katz tweeted following al-Zawahri's 9/11 anniversary video.
There was no clear indication from Tuesday's video of the placement of al-Zawahri. He's proven in a conventional white headband beside a poster praising “the noble girl of India.”
Nonetheless, it raises the specter of al Qaeda having a presence in Afghanistan, and highlights considerations over the dedication of the ruling Taliban to combat terror teams and deny them house in Afghanistan.
Al-Zawahri took over as al Qaeda chief after the 2011 killing of bin Laden by U.S. Navy SEALs throughout a daring nighttime raid deep inside Pakistan the place he was hiding. Bin Laden, who masterminded the 9/11 assaults in the US, was discovered within the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad, barely 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the capital of Islamabad.
Al-Zawahri has been rumoured to be in Afghanistan's northwestern Kunar and Badakhshan provinces on the border with Pakistan. The border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan is lined with inhospitable mountain ranges which have served as redoubts for quite a lot of militant teams.
Amir Rana, govt director of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Research assume tank stated that al-Zawahri was additionally rumoured to be in Pakistan's southern port metropolis of Karachi, the place many Taliban leaders lengthy maintained houses throughout Afghanistan's 20-year struggle.
“He was even rumoured to have died in Karachi,” stated Rana, including that no matter his location, al-Zawahri's video is for certain to trigger complications for Afghanistan's ruling Taliban with the worldwide neighborhood.
The Taliban had been ousted by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001 for harboring bin Laden. They captured energy once more in mid-August, through the chaotic final weeks of the U.S. and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Taliban say they're adhering to an settlement they signed with the US in 2020 - earlier than taking energy - during which they promised to combat terrorists. And since their takeover, they've repeatedly stated Afghanistan wouldn't be used as a launching pad for assaults in opposition to different international locations.
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