KABUL - Taliban’s supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada has won an allegiance pledge from Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri, a news report said on Saturday.
In an audio message, Zawahiri was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency: “As leader of the al Qaeda, I extend my pledge of allegiance once again, the approach of Osama to invite the Muslim nation to support the Islamic Emirate."
Al Qaeda flourished under the Taliban regime, which defied international warnings to expel Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan. The subsequent US invasion ousted the Taliban from power in 2001 and forced Al-Qaeda into hiding.(Pajhwok)