'Al-Qaeda is still active in Afghanistan'

Kabul [Afghanistan], May 4 : Despite the Taliban's claim that it seeks to maintain peace in Afghanistan, Kabul on Monday revealed that the terror outfit still maintains close ties with Al-Qaeda.
The Afghan government said that the roots of the al-Qaeda network are still alive in Afghanistan and the group still poses a threat to the country and the world and is collaborating with the Taliban, reported The News International.
"Al-Qaeda is still active in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda was not owned by bin Laden," said Atiqullah Amarkhil, a former military officer.
Osama Bin Laden, the founder of the militant terrorist organisation al-Qaeda, was killed by US security forces in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011. He was shot in the head, during the firefight in the compound in Pakistan, where he was taking shelter.
"Right now, al-Qaeda and Talib are not two different ideologic topics; they are beyond that as they have intermarried within their families," National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief Ahmad Zia Saraj said last week, reported The News International.
But the Taliban has dismissed any type of relations with al-Qaeda. The US presence in Afghanistan over the last 20 years was due to the existence of al-Qaeda. US President Joe Biden last month said the US has achieved its objectives in the Afghanistan war, reported The News International.
Terming war on terror as America's longest war, Biden said: "Now, as a result of those efforts, as we bring to an end America's longest war and draw down the last of our troops from Afghanistan."
The United States has begun pulling out its forces from Afghanistan. Biden announced earlier this month the decision to withdraw troops from the country starting May 1, with the aim of complete withdrawal from Afghanistan by September 11, which would mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that sparked the war in Afghanistan, the longest conflict in American history.