The Taliban has been very clear over the last several days that it has no ties with al-Qaeda any longer, and never will again. The Afghan government has many people interested in denying that, while trying to undercut the peace process. Army Chief Gen. Yasin Zia particularly wants to emphasize that.
There’s not evidence to back these allegations, so Gen. Zia is claiming that the military has recently killed al-Qaeda members in Ghazni, and that they were in a Taliban-influenced area.
The conclusion we’re meant to draw is that if al-Qaeda is in a Taliban area of influence, they must be under their influence. The Taliban continues to deny that this is the case, however, and for the sake of the peace process, clearly wants to cut ties with al-Qaeda.
Whether the US believes them or not is the real issue, and that remains to be seen, since the Pentagon is keeping a lot of the specifics classified, even though these are the specific metrics on which the peace deal is based.
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