CEP Advisory Board Member Dr. August Hanning quoted: "'It was clear to all experts that [the withdrawal] meant the great danger of the Taliban taking power in Afghanistan,' Dr. August Hanning, former German state secretary of the Federal Interior Ministry and director of Federal Intelligence Services, explained. 'But the prevailing mood in Germany was that government, Parliament and public were tired about the mission and the poor results of the mission in Afghanistan. Therefore, this announcement was also associated with a feeling of relief.'"

CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton-Brown statement: "THE sudden withdrawal of Western troops from Kabul has sparked a worrying resurgence of Islamic State in Afghanistan, as the Islamist organisation’s central command in Syria and Iraq smelled an opportunity."

CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton-Brown statement: "THE sudden withdrawal of Western troops from Kabul has sparked a worrying resurgence of Islamic State in Afghanistan, as the Islamist organisation’s central command in Syria and Iraq smelled an opportunity."

CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton-Brown statement: "THE sudden withdrawal of Western troops from Kabul has sparked a worrying resurgence of Islamic State in Afghanistan, as the Islamist organisation’s central command in Syria and Iraq smelled an opportunity."

CEP Advisory Board Member Ambassador Edmund Fitton-Brown interview: "The significance of Zawahiri being in Kabul is substantial. The monitoring team had already reported that we understood from Member States that he was present in Afghanistan. We didn’t know that he was in Kabul, which obviously is a little different from being in the mountainous remote border areas of Afghanistan. It implies a different level of Taliban or Haqqani network collusion with him. Of course, we have reported regularly on the close relationship between al-Qa`ida’s senior leadership and the Taliban and in particular the Haqqani network. We have reported particularly on the relationship of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the de facto Interior Minister of Afghanistan, with al-Qa`ida and with Zawahiri, but still I was surprised that he had been found in Kabul."

CEP Advisory Board Member Ambassador Nathan Sales quoted: "'I think Zawahri’s presence in a Taliban safehouse has to be the nail in the coffin of any plan to release funds directly to the Taliban,' said Nathan Sales, who served as ambassador-at-large and coordinator for counterterrorism from 2017 to 2021. 'They simply can’t be trusted and the risk is substantial that money released to them would find their way inevitably and directly into al Qaeda’s pockets.'"