Al Qaeda told the Taliban last month it planned to divert a large number of anti-American fighters from Afghanistan to Iraq and cut by half funding to Afghan fighter groups, Newsweek reported on Sunday. Three representatives of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden allegedly met with two emissaries from Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in the Afghan mountains of Khost province near the Pakistan border in mid-November, the magazine said. Newsweek cited Taliban sources as saying that bin Laden ordered the shift of resources away from Afghanistan to Iraq because he saw it as an opportunity for killing Americans and their allies in Iraq and neighboring countries such as Turkey. Asked about the report, a U.S. intelligence official told Reuters there did not appear to be a sizable reallocation going on. “There is no sign of significant shifts in that regard,” the official said on condition of anonymity. Full Story
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