Al‑Qaida Training Camps Return to Afghanistan

Overview

• Recent reporting attributes at least eight training sites in Afghanistan to al‑Qaida and allied groups, established over the past three years and documented by Western intelligence and UN monitors.
• Observers say the camps teach traditional combat skills plus technical instruction in drones, encryption and artificial intelligence that can improve targeting, communications and remote attack capabilities.
• Core al‑Qaida is now estimated to number roughly 100 fighters who act mainly as advisers to local militants rather than as a large expeditionary force.
• Other militant groups, including an Islamic State affiliate, have set up sites that give Islamist militants a presence across about 14 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.
• The resurgence echoes older regional networks that used Pakistan as a conduit and raises concrete risks for nearby countries, including possible cross‑border plots and the wider spread of weaponized drone and cyber skills.