Thread by @asfandyarmir

.@NicRobertsonCNN & @SaleemMehsud report: "In an exclusive interview...al Qaeda official tells CNN that "war against the US will be continuing on all other fronts unless they are expelled from the rest of the Islamic world."" 1/n cnn.com/2021/04/30/asi…

"...al Qaeda's spokesperson heaps praise on the Taliban for keeping the fight against America alive. "Thanks to Afghans for the protection of comrades-in-arms, many such jihadi fronts have been successfully operating in different parts of the Islamic world for a long time...""

"Through journalistic intermediaries, CNN stringer Saleem Mehsud reached out to al Qaeda for its reaction to Biden's move to pull out troops from Afghanistan, and rather than ignore him as it has done so many times in the past, representatives answered."

"CNN has reached out to the Taliban for comment on their relationship with al Qaeda, but it has not responded, rendering al Qaeda's response to CNN a significant insight to what may happen after US troops pull out."

"Peter Bergen, CNN terrorism expert and author of several books on Osama Bin Laden, read al Qaeda's reply to CNN and judged it "genuine.""

"Bergen points to another part of al Qaeda's response highlighting continuing ties with the Taliban, in which it said: "At the same time TTP [Pakistani Taliban] and AQ have relations of Islamic brotherhood which was and still intact and same is the case with the Afghan Taliban.""

"In the reply to CNN about its role in [AfPk] it claims to have "masterminded" the 2009 attack [against CIA]...said that at the time...TTP, which was also known to be involved in the attack, was the junior partner and "was in its learning stages, many mistakes were made by them."

"Today al Qaeda appears proud of its influence over the TTP. "Now the organization of Pakistani Taliban and their leadership not only moving forward in the light of Sharia but also making better decisions based on past experiences and recent successes..." n/n