Al Qaeda re-現れるs as challenge for US, 北大西洋条約機構 in Afghanistan
By James Mackenzie and Paul Tait
KABUL, April 15 (Reuters) - Leadership 騒動 within the Taliban since the death of the 交戦的な group's 創立者 has fuelled closer links with foreign groups like al Qaeda, the new 指揮官 of international 軍隊s in Afghanistan said, 複雑にするing 反対する-テロ行為 成果／努力s.
In an interview with Reuters, General John Nicholson pointed to what U.S. 公式の／役人s saw as a 転換 in the Taliban's 関係 with groups that Washington considers テロリスト organisations.
That could 影響（力） his 査定／評価 of 計画（する）s to 削減（する） U.S. 軍隊／機動隊 numbers next year, because if al Qaeda, which carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs, can operate in Afghanistan with 増加するing freedom, it may 提起する／ポーズをとる a greater 安全 脅し inside the country and beyond.
That was the very 推論する／理由 北大西洋条約機構 軍隊s went into Afghanistan in the first place: to 妨げる al Qaeda 機能（する）／行事ing 自由に while the Taliban, which 支配するd the country until its 追放／剥奪 at the end of 2001, looked on.
"You see a more overt 協調 between the Taliban and these 指定するd テロリスト organisations," Nicholson said.
"Our 関心 is that if the Taliban were to return, that because of their の近くに 関係s with these groups, that they would 申し込む／申し出 聖域 to these groups."
Nicholson is about half way though a review of 計画（する）s that would see U.S. 軍隊／機動隊 numbers nearly halved to 5,500 by 2017 and an end to much of the training and advice the 北大西洋条約機構-led 連合 現在／一般に 供給するs Afghan 軍隊s fighting the Taliban.
Some U.S. 政治家，政治屋s and Afghan 指揮官s are 勧めるing Washington to 再考する its drawdown 計画（する）s, worried that the Islamist Taliban movement 提起する／ポーズをとるs a growing 脅し to 安全.
Public appetite for an even more 長引かせるd （軍隊などの）展開，配備 of U.S. 軍隊s in Afghanistan is low, partly because the 衝突 is seen as 限られた／立憲的な to the country itself with little 危険 of international spillover.
Nicholson 拒絶する／低下するd to comment on the review, which will be 現在のd in Washington by June.
But he 最高潮の場面d a "greater 結合，連鎖" between the Taliban and U.S.-指定するd テロリスト group al Qaeda since the death of Taliban 創立者 Mullah Mohammad Omar and his 交替／補充 by 現在の leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour.
誘発するd by the need to 勝利，勝つ support in a leadership 戦う／戦い that broke out after Omar's death was 発表するd last year, Nicholson said Mansour had been 軍隊d closer to groups like al Qaeda and the Haqqani 網状組織, 非難するd for a 一連の high-profile 自殺 attacks in Kabul.
"When Mullah Omar was alive, he 持続するd a public distance from al Qaeda that his 後継者 Mullah Mansour has not," he said. "I think this is in part because Mansour 欠如（する）s the legitimacy of Omar."
U.S.-ONLY OPERATIONS "LESS FREQUENT"
Al Qaeda, which U.S. 公式の／役人s have 概算の has between 100-300 闘士，戦闘機s in Afghanistan, has returned as one of the main 焦点（を合わせる）s of the U.S. 反対する-テロ行為 使節団 in Afghanistan. Some 独立した・無所属 査定／評価s say that 見積（る） is too low.
The group has been いっそう少なく 目だつ in 最近の years as the Taliban, numbering thousands of 闘士，戦闘機s, 掴むd 領土 in a 一連の 激しい 戦う／戦いs 含むing, 簡潔に, the northern city of Kunduz and, more recently, 列s of Helmand in the south.
The 出現 of an offshoot of Islamic 明言する／公表する based in eastern Afghanistan, which U.S. 公式の／役人s believe is おもに composed of disaffected Taliban 闘士，戦闘機s and some foreign 交戦的なs, has 供給するd a その上の unwanted distraction.
However, the 発見 last year in the south of what U.S. 公式の／役人s 述べる as a 井戸／弁護士席-設立するd training （軍の）野営地，陣営 featuring Taliban and al Qaeda 施設s together, refocused attention on the latter, 同様に as the broader problem of groups using Afghanistan as a base for cross-国境 操作／手術s.
Six organisations are now on the 明言する／公表する Department's 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of foreign テロリスト organisations active in Afghanistan, although the Taliban are not. That means U.S. 軍隊s are more 限られた／立憲的な in the 当局 they have to attack the group.
"The Taliban are a medium within which these transnational groups operate," Nicholson said, pointing to other organisations such as Laskhar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based 交戦的な group that 普通は 的s India.
Whatever the 結果 of Nicholson's review, the separate U.S. 反対する-テロ行為 使節団 in Afghanistan will continue next year, with 従来の and drone 航空機, 同様に as special 軍隊s 軍隊／機動隊s on the ground.
U.S. 公式の／役人s say 操作／手術s in Afghanistan have 選ぶd up in intensity に引き続いて the U.S. 明言する／公表する Department's formal 任命 of Islamic 明言する／公表する in Khorasan as a foreign テロリスト organisation in January.
In the first three months of the year, U.S. 軍隊s 行為／行うd nearly 100 strikes against the group, which is based おもに in Nangarhar 州 in eastern Afghanistan, and 操作／手術s have continued at 概略で the same pace since, U.S. army 広報担当者 准將 General Charles Cleveland said.
Unlike al Qaeda, Islamic 明言する／公表する is ひどく …に反対するd to the Taliban and has directed most of its attacks against them rather than Afghan 軍隊s.
The 5,500 軍隊／機動隊s （ーのために）とっておくd to remain in Afghanistan next year will おもに 焦点（を合わせる） on 反対する-テロ行為 操作／手術s, but Afghan 軍隊／機動隊s, who already 行為／行う the 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of 使節団s, will take an 増加するing 株, Nicholson said.
"We 所有する the 能力s here if it were necessary to do a 片側だけの 操作／手術," he said, but 追加するd: "that would be いっそう少なく たびたび（訪れる）".
(Editing by マイク Collett-White)
