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United Nations, June 5
A significant part of the Al-Qaeda leadership resides in the Afghanistan and Pakistan border region, including the group’s elusive leader Aiman al-Zawahiri, who is “probably alive but too frail to be featured in propaganda,” according to a United Nations report.
The report, issued on Friday, said that large numbers of Al-Qaeda fighters and other foreign extremist elements aligned with the Taliban are located in various parts of Afghanistan.
“Member states reported that a significant part of Al-Qaeda leadership remains based in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the core is joined by and works closely with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent,” the twelfth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team said.