November threat report reveals ‘Taliban 5’ appointed to terrorist organization’s political office in Qatar

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, released this week the latest Terror Threat Snapshot, which highlights threats the nation, the West and the world face from ISIS and other Islamist terrorists.

The report highlighted that five senior members of the Taliban — Mohammad Fazl, Mohammed Nabi, Khairullah Khairkhwa, Abdul Haq Wasiq, and Noorullah Noori — collectively known as the Taliban Five and former inmates of the American prison at Guantanamo Bay, have been appointed as members of the organization’s political office in Qatar.

The report added the men were released as part of an exchange deal to ensure the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in 2014.

The Terror Snapshot also reported that Kazakhstan citizen Dias Muratovich Kadyrbayev, 24, convicted June 2015 of conspiracy to obstruct justice and disposing of incriminatory items from Dzhokar Tsarnaev’s room, was deported to his native country on Oct. 23, 2018.

Officials said Kadyrbayev was sentenced to six years in prison three years ago, transferred to ICE custody in August 2018 and his actions are considered aggravated felonies under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The Pakistani government has released Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, co-founder of the Afghan Taliban, per the report, revealing the release of Baradar, the second most senior member of the Taliban, appears to have been a goodwill gesture to bring the Taliban, the Afghan government and the United States, as talks have been underway in Qatar.

Ahmad Suhad Ahmad, 30, an Iraqi refugee now a U.S. citizen living in Tucson, Ariz., has been charged with distributing instructions on how to make explosives.

According to the report, Ahmad told an undercover informant he learned to make improvised explosives during the war in Iraq and traveled to Las Vegas to demonstrate to the undercover informant how to construct the device before he was arrested.