The AQ-ISIS Deal
I’ve been asked to explain this again now that the U.S. has pulled out of Iraq.
This deal was made between Al-Qaeda (AQ) and ISIS about four years ago now. From what I’ve seen, it was initiated by the sons of Osama bin Laden including Hamza and Saad and a lot of the historic network around Abu Musab al-Suri, who is in fact also still alive.
And if you still don’t understand the relationship between AQ and ISIS, here’s a piece of that history that gets swept under the rug as it’s not convenient to those still pushing dated assessments on the links between the two groups.
Saad bin Laden, again Osama bin Laden’s son, had a son named Furqan bin Laden, this son was with his first wife who is the daughter of Jalaluddin Haqqani. Furqan became an ISIS fighter and in August 2016 carried out a suicide attack in the Sharqat region of Iraq’s Nineveh Province under the alias Abu Muslim al-Iraqi.
In other words, Osama bin Laden’s grandson died a martyr for ISIS in Iraq. That is a pretty important fact.
Now, the actual AQ-ISIS deal itself was two-fold.
ISIS agreed to support the community attacks tied to the AQ’s U.S. homeland plot. These are the attacks where Americans live, work, and play with a focus on veteran communities. Abdallah Makki, whose full name is Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, aka Abu Khadija al-Iraq was running that piece of the plotting until his death in March 2025. Since then, that role has been handled by Hasan Ali Mujwal Hussein, aka Abu Athraa, and his deputy Abu Ja’afar al-Shalahi. ISIS also agreed to stand down during the Syrian blitzkrieg.
In return, AQ promised to help get certain senior ISIS terrorists and their families released in Syria, while offering safe haven and sustenance in Afghanistan for those ISIS families who wanted to relocate.
Abu Mohammad al-Julani made this portion of the deal after he rejoined AQ in late 2021. AQ promised him 10,000 trained fighters for the blitzkreig, a few camps in the Nangarhar region for HTS to train for the blitzkreig protected (as at the time, their camps kept getting pummeled from Al Tanf), and the establishment of new pipelines to move fighters and supplies to Syria as the historic ones were cumbersome.
After the blitzkreig, the Syrian regime as ordered by Abu Mohammad al-Julani went into prisons literally with clipboards, to ensure the right ISIS terrorists got released. Some releases started spring 2025, a big tranche of the list happened in January 2026, and the last of them that mattered got released by March 2026.
The deal also covered Iraq. After the U.S. withdrawal, AQ would either stand down or support ISIS attacks in Iraq where needed. Before those attacks, ISIS members from Syria and Iraq could be protected and trained in Afghanistan.
The main requirement for this piece was that ISIS members entering Afghanistan must register with ISKP. Those that came were then given Afghan documentation and made to appear as refugees, allowing aid money to be diverted to ISKP to help fund this part of the arrangement.
And here’s the key part people need to understand, as of now, both sides believe the other has held up its end of the deal. Even after Makki was killed, his wives took the resettlement offer. Since last summer, they have been living safely in Afghanistan with their children.