Afghanistan National Directorate of Security earlier this week announced that a most wanted terror operative identified as Mohammad Hanif originally from Karachi, Pakistan.
According to the report, Hanif was a bomb maker who trained Taliban members before switching allegiance to Al-Qaeda and subsequently he become a close aide to Asim Omar, who headed al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and was killed in a joint US-Afghan operation in 2019.
In a by the country intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security said Mohammad Hanif, originally from Karachi, had “close relations” with the Taliban and helped train fighters in making car bombs and improvised explosive devices.
He was initially a member of the Taliban, but joined al-Qaeda in 2010 but still maintained close links with Taliban.
Officials have long accused the Taliban of maintaining close links to Al-Qaeda, blamed for the deadly September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Two Pakistani women were also detained in the operation that led to Hanif’s killing, according to NDS.
The killing of Hanif is a huge blow to the Al-Qaeda network and came just days after security agents killed Abu Muhsin al-Masri, a top Al-Qaeda long-wanted by the US.
The Taliban’s sheltering Al-Qaeda and its emir, Osama bin Laden was the main reason for the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
