Informed sources told Afghanistan International on Sunday evening that Taliban Interior Ministry and intelligence forces had detained Mutasim Agha Jan, a former senior member of the group, after surrounding his religious school in Kandahar city.
According to the sources, Agha Jan was taken to Kandahar police headquarters following his arrest.
Sources said the school was surrounded after several people described as guests entered the premises. Their identities remain unclear, and it is not known whether they were Afghan citizens or foreign nationals.
Mutasim Agha Jan is a well-known former senior Taliban figure whose relations with the group’s leadership have been strained for years. After the Taliban returned to power, he came back to Afghanistan from Istanbul with the guarantee of Taliban defense minister, Yaqoob Mujahid.
This is not the first time the Taliban has detained Agha Jan. In 2022, Taliban intelligence forces raided his home in Kabul and confiscated some of his personal property.
The Taliban also detained Mutasim Agha Jan on 16 April this year before later releasing him.
The Taliban has not yet commented on the reason for the latest detention of its former senior member.
Who is Mutasim Agha Jan?
Mutasim Agha Jan was a long-standing and influential Taliban figure. During the Taliban’s first period in power, from 1996 to 2001, he served as the group’s finance minister and was considered close to its former leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
His name was added to the United Nations sanctions list in 2001.
After the fall of the Taliban government, Agha Jan remained within the group’s leadership structure and for a period headed the Taliban’s political committee.
Reports indicate that he remained an important political figure within the Taliban until around 2009, but gradually developed differences with parts of the leadership over the group’s strategy, particularly the issue of negotiations with the Afghan government.
Agha Jan was among former Taliban officials who openly supported a political settlement to end the war.
He called for the formation of an inclusive political system in Afghanistan and, in the years after 2010, took part in several initiatives and meetings related to peace negotiations.
These positions were opposed by sections of the Taliban, and the group’s leadership at times stressed that Agha Jan and his associates did not officially represent the Taliban in negotiations.
Mutasim Agha Jan was seriously wounded in an armed attack in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2010.
He later left Pakistan and lived for periods in Turkiye and Arab countries, while continuing efforts to promote talks with the Afghan government.
His support for negotiations and growing distance from the Taliban leadership’s official position eventually made him a distinct and somewhat marginal figure among the group’s former senior leaders.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid on Sunday denied the presence of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, rejecting a Washington Post report that cited Western security officials and a UN body as saying the group is active again in the country.
Mujahid described the report as propaganda against the Taliban and said there was no evidence proving the presence of foreign groups in Afghanistan.
He told domestic media that such claims were being made by what he described as biased and intelligence-linked circles seeking to fuel tensions and create scenarios of regional insecurity.
Mujahid has previously rejected UN Security Council reports about the presence of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
At the same time, Hamdullah Fitrat, the Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, also responded to the Washington Post report by denying to Taliban-affiliated media that foreign groups, including al-Qaeda, were present in Afghanistan.
He said groups that had operated in connection with past wars no longer needed to remain in Afghanistan because circumstances had changed. He also described claims about their activities as propaganda.
In a report published on 12 September, the Washington Post said al-Qaeda and its affiliates had established at least eight training centres in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power.
The report said Islamist groups, including ISIS-Khorasan, had also opened new training facilities and that armed groups were present in at least 14 provinces across Afghanistan.
According to the newspaper, the new al-Qaeda centres provide training in the use of weapons, explosives and guerrilla warfare tactics, while there are also signs of instruction in encryption, artificial intelligence, drones and other emerging technologies.
A member of the UN monitoring team also estimated that al-Qaeda had around 100 core members in Afghanistan.
A UN Security Council report also said cooperation between al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan had increased, and that training camps run by the groups in Afghanistan were focused on training local fighters and TTP members.
The report also said al-Qaeda continued to operate covertly in Afghanistan and that commanders from the network were travelling into the country.
According to the Security Council report, al-Qaeda members in Kunar province had been involved in training TTP members in suicide bombing techniques, while the network also served as an adviser and trainer for allied armed groups.
The Taliban has consistently rejected UN reports about al-Qaeda’s presence and activities in Afghanistan. However, Security Council reports in recent years have said ties between the Taliban and al-Qaeda remain intact, that the network operates training centres in the country and that it cooperates with regional armed groups.
Pakistan’s UN representative has expressed deep concern over what he called growing terrorist activity from Afghan territory, saying more than 4,700 Pakistanis have been killed in such attacks over the past three years.
Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s representative to the United Nations, told a Security Council meeting on Friday, 11 September, marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Balochistan Liberation Army and its Majeed Brigade continued to operate from safe havens in Afghanistan with significant foreign support.
He said the groups had carried out some of the most brutal terrorist attacks against Pakistan.
Pakistan’s representative also criticised the absence of restrictive measures and UN Security Council sanctions against the Balochistan Liberation Army, saying the group was operating freely.
According to Ahmad, Pakistan’s efforts to have the Balochistan Liberation Army added to the Security Council sanctions list have so far been unsuccessful.
He stressed that other groups, including the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and ISIS, must also be effectively contained.
The Pakistani representative described the terrorist threat in Afghanistan, alongside threats in Africa and the Middle East, as a serious concern in the global fight against terrorism.
In recent years, Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban administration of allowing Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan to operate from Afghan territory and has urged Kabul to act against the group.
Islamabad also considers the Balochistan Liberation Army one of its main security threats and alleges that its members also operate from Afghanistan against Pakistan.
The Taliban administration has rejected the accusations, saying it does not allow any group to use Afghan territory against other countries.
The Taliban has also repeatedly said that insecurity in Pakistan is the country’s internal matter and that Islamabad should address its security problems inside Pakistan.
Security tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban administration have increased in recent months.
Pakistan has justified military strikes and operations along the Afghan border as action against armed groups based in Afghanistan, while the Taliban has described the attacks as violations of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.
Nazira Haji Zada, an Afghan migrant and US permanent resident, has been deported to her country of origin after admitting involvement in an ISIS-inspired attack plot. It is the first such deportation ruling in nearly three decades.
Joan Ericksen, chief judge and presiding judge of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, ordered Hajizada’s deportation over her role in a plot for a mass shooting inspired by ISIS on the day of the 2024 US presidential election.
Haji Zada’s case was heard in secret, and the deportation order was issued on Thursday, 20 August. The ruling was unsealed on Friday, 11 September. Hearings in the case had previously been postponed twice.
The US Justice Department said the 47-year-old woman admitted that she was an “alien terrorist” and waived her right to appeal the deportation order.
US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement: “This landmark case, resulting in the prompt removal of this alien terrorist to her country of origin, is a win for national security and the rule of law.”
The Alien Terrorist Removal Court was established in 1996 but had remained unused for nearly three decades. Donald Trump’s administration has now revived the court as part of efforts to bring back older and little-used immigration laws.
Haji Zada was represented in the case by Matthew Farley and Mary Petras, two lawyers from the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Washington, DC. Farley had said during the proceedings that he intended to challenge the government’s effort to deport his client.
The US Justice Department has released few details about the allegations against Haji Zada. The publicly available information includes a sealed application for her removal and a two-paragraph unclassified summary of the allegations.
Hayden O’Byrne, an official with the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said Haji Zada had pledged allegiance to ISIS, played a role in radicalising her children and supported a terrorist plot involving her son and son-in-law.
Her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and her son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, had previously been arrested and convicted in connection with the planned attack.
Sami Sadat, leader of the Afghanistan United Front, says his forces do not need foreign troops to fight the Taliban, but are seeking support from the international community.
In a video message on Friday, 11 September, marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Sadat said Afghans had fought terrorism alongside US forces for 20 years after 9/11.
He said that during this period, institutions and infrastructure were developed and young Afghans gained access to education and global opportunities.
Sadat added that these achievements came at a heavy price for the Afghan people. He referred to the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud by al-Qaeda operatives on 9 September 2001 and the killing of former president and High Peace Council chairman Burhanuddin Rabbani.
The Afghanistan United Front leader said Afghans continue to suffer at the hands of the Taliban and terrorist groups, but that the struggle for freedom and against the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other terrorist organisations would continue.
He said the United Front of Afghanistan began military operations against the Taliban on 1 August and had carried out 54 operations by Friday. Sadat claimed that more than 128 Taliban members had been killed or wounded in those attacks.
Sadat also said repression, torture and killings continue in Afghanistan, while large numbers of Afghans are leaving for Iran, Pakistan, Turkiye, Europe and the United States.
He blamed the Taliban for the situation and said that, by contrast, members of terrorist groups from different countries were finding refuge in Afghanistan.
Sadat said the Taliban had established thousands of religious schools over the past five years, where around two million Afghan children were now studying.
He claimed that children in these schools were being taught violence, hatred and the destruction of others in the name of religion.
The Afghanistan United Front leader also said al-Qaeda had become more organised and better equipped.
He described the US agreement with the Taliban as a mistake by American leaders and said the Taliban and al-Qaeda had not achieved victory on the battlefield.
Addressing countries in the region that maintain close relations with the Taliban, Sadat said the group would not bring peace and stability to the region.
He stressed that his forces would continue fighting the Taliban on their own.
On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Atlantic Council experts have warned that Afghanistan remains a safe haven for terrorist groups, even as the nature of global terrorism has changed.
The experts say that although al-Qaeda and ISIS are no longer as centralised or powerful as they once were, networks affiliated with the groups have adapted to new conditions.
The US think tank published a report on Thursday, 10 September, titled “The State of Terrorism, 25 Years After 9/11”, presenting the views of 25 of its experts on how terrorist threats have evolved over the past quarter-century and what may come next.
The report notes that the September 11, 2001, attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and fundamentally reshaped the United States’ national security system. The attacks triggered the US-led “war on terror” and major changes to American intelligence and homeland security structures, but terrorism itself did not disappear.
‘War on terror’: Tactical success, strategic failure
Atlantic Council experts do not share a single view on whether the US war on terror was successful, but they argue that it cannot simply be described as either a success or a failure.
Omer Rafiq, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, wrote that the United States achieved many tactical successes over the past 25 years, but successive US administrations never clearly defined when or under what conditions victory in the war on terror would be achieved.
He said more than 900,000 people were killed in direct violence linked to wars following the September 11 attacks, including more than 7,000 US service members.
According to Rafiq, the main problem was not the implementation of military operations, but policymaking and the lack of a clearly defined end goal for the wars.
The report also describes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as having significant consequences for US foreign policy, saying that the end of the Afghanistan war and the withdrawal of US forces, together with the legacy of the Iraq war, have made the American public more sceptical about foreign interventions.
The changing nature of terrorism
According to Atlantic Council experts, terrorism today is fundamentally different from what it was in 2001.
Before the September 11 attacks, terrorist groups included separatist, nationalist, revolutionary and religious organisations. Al-Qaeda, however, introduced a different model: a transnational non-state actor that exploited areas with weak governance and was capable of organising complex attacks against targets far from its main bases.
Experts say that model has also changed.
Today’s terrorist networks are more decentralised, localised and digital, while groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS no longer exercise the same centralised control over all their supporters and affiliates.
Under these conditions, terrorist groups are increasingly involved in local conflicts, while terrorism has become intertwined with armed insurgencies, territorial control, illicit economies and local disputes.
The internet and social media have also made it easier for individuals to become radicalised and mobilised without direct orders from a central organisation.
Al-Qaeda and ISIS weaker but still active
The Atlantic Council says al-Qaeda and ISIS are no longer the large, organised and highly centralised organisations they once were, but both have adapted by creating and strengthening networks of affiliates and associated groups.
The report says an al-Qaeda-linked branch in Mali controls a significant amount of territory, while ISIS manages aspects of its global operations through networks based in Somalia.
According to the experts, the two groups still retain the ability to recruit members, distribute propaganda, inspire attacks and establish local networks.
Digital tools have also enabled them to spread extremist messages more quickly to people in different parts of the world.
Afghanistan remains a favourable environment for terrorist groups
One of the report’s key sections focuses on terrorism in Afghanistan and South Asia.
Michael Kugelman, a senior fellow for South Asia at the Atlantic Council, wrote that the terrorism landscape in South Asia appears better than it did in the years leading up to September 11. Al-Qaeda is weaker, and many of the more than a dozen terrorist groups active in Afghanistan and Pakistan have limited operational capabilities.
However, he warned that the terrorist threat in the region should not be underestimated.
According to Kugelman, the Taliban administration, which has controlled Afghanistan again for the past five years, has ties or alliances with many terrorist groups operating in the region, ranging from Central Asian jihadist organisations to Pakistani militant groups.
He concluded that continued Taliban rule has created an environment favourable to armed groups.
IS-K remains a serious threat
The report describes Islamic State – Khorasan Province as one of the few genuinely powerful terrorist groups operating in the region.
According to the report, Taliban operations against IS-K in recent years have reduced the number of attacks carried out by the group but IS-K has managed to withstand security pressure and expand its capacity to conduct operations beyond the region.
The Atlantic Council says IS-K continues to retain the ability to recruit, spread propaganda and plan cross-border attacks, even while facing intense pressure from the Taliban.
Central Asia and Afghanistan’s role
In another section of the report, Atlantic Council experts warn that extremist groups, including IS-K, are likely to continue exploiting weak governance and social problems in Afghanistan and Central Asian countries in the near future.
According to the experts, one of the region’s biggest security challenges is the Taliban’s inability to prevent terrorist groups from operating inside Afghanistan.
The report also points to the activities of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and IS-K, saying the latter continues to recruit in Central Asian countries as well as Afghanistan.
It says some recruits from Tajikistan have been involved in IS-K-linked plots and attacks in Europe, the Philippines and the United States.
Experts predict that Afghanistan will remain a favourable environment for terrorist groups soon.
Terrorist threat shifts from large organisations to dispersed networks
The Atlantic Council stresses that one of the most significant changes over the past 25 years has been the shift from centralised terrorist organisations to dispersed networks.
According to the report, counterterrorism efforts in the past focused largely on identifying, tracking and eliminating the leadership of groups such as al-Qaeda.
Today, however, terrorist networks, local groups, self-radicalised individuals, illicit economies and state actors combine to create a more complex threat.
Artificial intelligence: A new tool for terrorist groups
One of the experts’ emerging concerns is the use of artificial intelligence by terrorist groups.
The report says terrorist organisations can use AI to produce propaganda, translate material, recruit members and target vulnerable audiences.
Experts also warn that advanced AI models could make some forms of technical knowledge more accessible to people without specialist expertise.
According to them, this could reduce technical barriers for terrorist groups in the future.
The report adds that ISIS-linked groups have already used AI to produce and distribute propaganda, and that advances in generative and automated models could allow them to create targeted content on a much larger scale.
Drones and cyberattacks
Drones are also identified in the Atlantic Council report as a potential future threat.
Experts say small, inexpensive and widely available drones could become effective tools for terrorist groups and could be used against crowded places, infrastructure and symbolic targets.
The report also warns about the potential combination of physical and cyberattacks.
According to the experts, a future cyberattack may not resemble a “cyber 9/11” but could instead support a physical attack by stealing information, disrupting security or communications systems, or interfering with emergency responses.
Critical infrastructure as a potential target
Atlantic Council experts say water, energy, transport, communications, healthcare and other critical infrastructure are becoming more vulnerable because of their growing dependence on digital systems.
They say weak digital security systems and outdated technology could increase the possibility of remote attacks.
Such attacks could involve malware, ransomware, disruption of navigation systems or AI-based tools.
Changes in terrorist financing
The report also examines the role of cryptocurrencies in terrorist financing.
Experts stress that cryptocurrencies are still not the main source of funding for terrorist organisations, with cash, state support and informal financial networks remaining more important.
However, new technologies have made it easier to transfer money outside traditional monitoring systems.
The report says groups such as IS-K have also used some privacy-focused cryptocurrencies to solicit donations.
The changing threat to the United States
The Atlantic Council says the terrorist threat to US territory has also changed since 2001.
According to the experts, the appeal of Salafi-jihadist ideology has declined compared with two decades ago, while al-Qaeda and ISIS have less capacity to carry out large-scale attacks inside the United States.
However, the threat from extremist groups, self-radicalised individuals and lone attackers remains.
Some Atlantic Council experts, meanwhile, say the threat to the United States from state-backed groups, particularly those supported by Iran, is increasing.
Declining counterterrorism resources
Atlantic Council experts also warn that as US competition with China and Russia intensifies, some funding and personnel previously dedicated to counterterrorism have been reduced.
They say the US intelligence and operational presence have declined in some regions, including South Asia and Africa, where ISIS activity is increasing.
The experts warn that a reduced US presence on the ground could weaken Washington’s ability to detect changes in terrorist networks at an early stage.
International cooperation remains essential
In its conclusion, the Atlantic Council stresses that counterterrorism over the past 25 years has depended heavily on cooperation between countries, intelligence sharing and coordination in security, diplomacy and finance.
The report says international cooperation must also evolve as terrorism changes, particularly to address self-radicalised individuals, domestic extremist groups, social media and new methods of terrorist financing.
Experts predict that attacks by inspired individuals, lone attackers and domestic extremist groups could increase in the future, requiring greater international cooperation on technology, intelligence and the regulation of digital platforms.
Overall, the Atlantic Council report concludes that terrorism has not disappeared 25 years after September 11, but has changed form, shifting from large, centralised organisations such as al-Qaeda towards dispersed, local and digital networks.
Afghanistan, along with parts of Africa and the Middle East, remains a source of concern, while technologies such as artificial intelligence, drones, cryptocurrencies and cyberattacks could reshape the terrorist threat in the years ahead.
