Al-Qaeda on Tuesday called for the “liberation” of Kashmir and other so-called Islamic lands from the “clutches of the enemies of Islam” in a message congratulating the Taliban for its victory in Afghanistan. A detailed statement issued by al-Qaeda hours after the Taliban declared that Afghanistan has gained “full independence” following the drawdown of US forces referred to the terror group’s long-standing calls for the so-called liberation of regions such as Palestine, the Levant, Somalia and Yemen. “0’ Allah! Liberate the Levant, Somalia, Yemen, Kashmir and the rest of the Islamic lands from the clutches of the enemies of Islam. 0’ Allah! Grant freedom to Muslim prisoners across the world,” said the message titled “Congratulations to the Islamic Ummah on the victory granted by Allah in Afghanistan!”. Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on August 15 after a lightning campaign across the country, one of the greatest concerns of regional analysts and security officials has been the victory energising terror groups active across South Asia. RELATED STORIES ‘Had warned of consequences’: Ghani laments as Taliban fear grips Afghans Taliban capture key Kandahar district, Afghan forces flee to Tajikistan: Report Watch: Taliban sends hundreds of fighters to Resistance stronghold Panjshir Taliban in Afghan presidential palace as Ghani flees to ‘avoid flood of blood’ One of the conditions of the peace deal signed by the Taliban and the US in February 2020 was that the Afghan militant group should sever its ties with all terror groups, particularly al-Qaeda. However, reports issued by the UN Security Council’s sanctions monitoring team in recent months have stated that there is no evidence the Taliban having cut or reduced its links with al-Qaeda. “We praise the Almighty, the Omnipotent, who humiliated and defeated America, the head of disbelief. We praise Him for breaking America’s back, tarnishing its global reputation and expelling it, disgraced and humiliated, from the Islamic land of Afghanistan,” the al-Qaeda message said. “Afghanistan is undoubtedly a graveyard of empires and an impregnable fortress of Islam. With the defeat of the Americans, this is the third time that the Afghan nation, within a span of less than two centuries, has successfully defeated and expelled an invading imperialist power,” it added. The defeat of the “American Empire of Evil” is a “tremendous source of inspiration for the oppressed of the world”, the statement said, and offered al-Qaeda’s congratulations to the Taliban leadership, especially its chief Haibatullah Akhundzada. “These events prove that the Way of Jihad is the only way that leads to victory and empowerment,” the message said, adding the time has come to “prepare for the next stage of the struggle, the way for which has been paved by the victory of the defiant Afghan nation”. “With the help of Allah, this historic victory will open the way for the Muslim masses to achieve liberation from the despotic rule of tyrants who have been imposed by the West on the Islamic World. God Willing, the victory of the Muslim Ummah in Afghanistan shall prove to be a prelude to the liberation of Palestine from Zionist occupation,” it said. America and NATO’s “Afghan debacle marks the beginning of the end of the dark era of Western hegemony and military occupation of Islamic lands”, the statement said.

President Joe Biden defended his handling of the US exit from Afghanistan, praising as historic a weeks-long evacuation of more than 100,000 people and rejecting criticism that the withdrawal was mishandled.

“I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extending a forever exit,” he said. “It was time to end this war,” he added later in his speech, pounding his fist on the lectern.

Republicans have said Biden should have extended an Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw until every American was removed from the country. About 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan, according to the State Department, and the president said his decision was not “arbitrary.”

The deadline “was designed to save American lives,” he said. The US would have risked additional casualties in renewed combat with the Taliban had its forces remained, he said.

He described the US airlift from Kabul’s airport over the last month as unprecedented. More than 117,000 people were removed, including about 6,000 Americans.

“No nation, no nation has ever done anything like it in all the history,” he said.

Biden’s political opponents have criticised the president’s withdrawal strategy, saying the US should have begun removing people from the country earlier and should have operated more forcefully within Kabul — actions the president maintains would have risked combat with Taliban forces and further American casualties.

“I believe there should be accountability for what I see as the biggest failure in American government on a military stage in my lifetime,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

The president’s critics have also argued that by leaving, Biden has increased the likelihood the country would once again become a breeding ground for international terrorism as the Taliban struggle to unify disparate factions and keep the economy afloat.

But Biden again described himself as bound by an agreement his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, struck with the Taliban last year to withdraw from the country. While some critics have said Biden could have abandoned or substantially renegotiated the deal, and Trump and his allies have tried to recast the agreement as conditional, the president insisted any major change would have led to fresh violence.

“We were left with a simple decision: Either follow through on the commitment made by the last administration and leave Afghanistan or say we weren’t leaving and commit another tens of thousands more troops going back to war,” he said. “That was the choice, the real choice, between leaving or escalating.”

Biden promised during his campaign that he would withdraw the US from Afghanistan, a position broadly supported among the American public prior to the evacuation effort, polls showed. Though Republicans have criticized the execution of the withdrawal, Trump sought to leave even faster, striking a deal with the Taliban in his final year in office to exit the country by May 1 of this year.

But a Reuters/Ipsos poll published Monday showed that less than 40% approved of Biden’s handling of the withdrawal and that three-quarters of Americans wanted US forces to remain until every American civilian was evacuated.

For years, US politicians and military leaders have described the Afghanistan government and army as more stable and capable than they proved during the Taliban takeover. In his speech, Biden suggested that Americans had been misled.

“It was time to be honest with the American people again,” Biden said. “We no longer had a clear purpose in an open-ended mission in Afghanistan.”f