Has Afghanistan become a safe haven for al-Qaeda again?

This article at the website Foreign Policy argues that the Taliban's surprise return to power in Afghanistan last year has paved for al-Qaeda to re-establish a safe haven in Afghanistan, and the fact that the late al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a drone strike in Kabul bolsters one of the reasons many people criticize Donald Trump for striking a deal with the Taliban in 2020 --- doubts about any sincerity by the Taliban about fulfilling counter-terrorism commitments.

a reply to: Potlatch

Taliban's surprise return to power

I'm confused, do they mean like a "look out of the window and see the grass is actually green" kinda surprise or an "Oh wow, look, the democrats rigged the election .... and they won" surprise.

Also

Has Afghanistan become a safe haven for al-Qaeda again?

I could reference bears or popes, actually that's probably enough.

a reply to: Potlatch

Al-Qaeda is basically an Order of Nine Angles subgroup, and as far as I can tell the Taliban isn't, but the Taliban might still think it's to their interest to support Al-Qaeda anyway. Modern terrorism wasn't invented by Ibn Taymiyyah or whoever, it was invented by David "blood for the blood god" bin Myatt. Talk about "oriental white colonialism."

a reply to: Potlatch

How, when they never left? Waited. Now..w access to all our stuff we left 'em. Pretty smart them and the Taliban....