Today Hagai had published a Comment & Opinion piece in the South China Morning Post - the historic English language newspaper of Hong Kong - on the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and what him being found by the US in Kabul might tell us about the Taliban’s internal disputes in regards relations with al-Qaeda and other terror factions. Attention has falllen on the Haqqani, who it seems were al-Zawahiri’s hosts. Whether the Taliban limits itself to austere Islamist domestic policies or again involves itself in external jihadist activity going forward may depend on the winners and losers of the all-Zawahiri affair: Al-Qaeda leader Zawahiri is dead, but Afghanistan terror threat remains a global concern
This follows Hagai’s analysis, in the same newspaper back in September 2021, on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and its consequences: US leaving Afghanistan clears a lucrative but risky path for China and others