Al-Qaeda poses serious threat to Afghan peace process: UN official

Kabul [Afghanistan], November 14 (ANI): Al-Qaeda continues to pose serious threats to the Afghan peace process and its affiliates are still bounded in close alignment and ties with the Taliban, a senior UN official said on Friday.
In an interview with Tolo News, Edmund Fitton-Brown, the coordinator of the United Nations monitoring team for Daesh, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban said al-Qaeda will inflict devastating harm to the Afghan peace process if not controlled.
"In terms of the challenge that al-Qaeda represents to the peace process, obviously the peace process is predicated upon the fact that the Taliban should prevent any threat emanating from outside Afghanistan and that includes from al-Qaeda, and unless al-Qaeda is in some way controlled, then, of course, they represent a threat to the peace process," Fitton-Brown said.
Fitton-Brown further said, "Taliban's ties with al-Qaeda go very deep."
He said al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has maintained close ties with the Taliban and Haqqani network despite the Taliban's assurance to the United States to cut ties with the group.
However, Taliban denied any link with al-Qaeda.
On the ongoing violence in Afghanistan, Daesh took responsibility for a series of deadly attacks on several targets in Afghanistan, including the attacks on Kabul University and attack on Kawsar-e-Danish educational center that left dozens of students dead and dozens more wounded, according to Tolo news. (ANI)