Al-Qaida-Taliban power dynamic shifting

KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Shifting alliances between a weakened al-Qaida and an emboldened Taliban will figure in U.S. decisions on sending more troops to Afghanistan, analysts say.

There are fewer than 100 al-Qaida members left in Afghanistan, and they have become dependent on factions within the far more numerous Taliban insurgent group for carrying out their terrorist agenda -- an inversion of situation before the Afghanistan war, The Washington Post reported.

An unnamed U.S. military intelligence official told the newspaper the new power dynamics will play a role in deliberations by President Barack Obama on how or whether to deploy thousands of additional U.S. troops in the country.

The Post analysts are split over what the new power balance will mean. Some contend it will drive the remnants of al-Qaida closer to certain Taliban factions, such as one controlled by former Afghan Cabinet minister Jalaluddin Haqqani, while moving it away from the Pakistani Taliban group controlled by leader Mohammad Omar.

Richard Barrett, coordinator of the U.N. Taliban and al-Qaida Monitoring Team, said Omar seems to be distancing himself from his former allies, telling the Post, "The Taliban have got the expertise, they have got the resources, they have got the momentum."