Terrorist Landscape in Afghanistan Poses Challenges After the US Withdrawal By Hollie McKay | August 2, 2021 | 7:42pm EDT Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, if he’s still alive, is believed to be holed up somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistan border. (Photo by Maher Attar/Sygma via Getty Images) (CNSNews.com) – As the U.S. military prepares to make its final withdrawal from Afghanistan over the coming weeks, much attention is being paid to the Taliban’s stampede to take over the country. However, that is not the only brutal insurgency with a foothold in the fragile region. While the Afghan Taliban itself is not a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO) there are plenty of such groups present in the area.