Taliban leaders have spoken of suppressing ISIS over the past three years, yet they have simultaneously denied the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan. Now, some officials within the regime express concerns about ISIS’s presence in the country. Sources from within the Taliban report that hundreds of ISIS Khorasan (IS-K) fighters, who were released from prisons during the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, have resumed their activities.
Taliban leaders have repeatedly claimed that ISIS has been completely crushed in Afghanistan while also asserting that ISIS does not exist in the country—contradictory statements that the public finds false, as ISIS is indeed present in Afghanistan. The Taliban have failed to suppress it. The ISIS Khorasan branch has claimed responsibility for dozens of deadly attacks in Afghanistan over the past three years, resulting in significant casualties.
Sources within the Taliban confirmed to the Hasht-e Subh Daily that ISIS is present in most parts of Afghanistan, causing severe concern for the regime. These sources acknowledged that following the fall of the previous government to the Taliban, hundreds of ISIS prisoners were freed and have since resumed their activities and recruitment efforts.
The sources expressed concern and confirmed that ISIS has been able to recruit members since the fall of the previous regime. According to the sources, ISIS members have infiltrated from provincial centers to districts.
These sources, who requested anonymity, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily: “Based on the list we have, hundreds of ISIS prisoners were released from prisons in Afghanistan before and after the fall of the republic. These prisoners were from almost all provinces of Afghanistan, mainly held in Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul. We have a complete list, and each of these ISIS members had sentences ranging from 10 to 16 years, but they escaped when the republic fell.”
The Taliban sources, concerned about ISIS recruitment post-republic collapse, added: “We cannot deny the presence of ISIS. ISIS is indeed present in Afghanistan. Over the past two to three years, they have been recruiting. ISIS now has many forces and has strengthened its manpower over these two or three years. According to available documents, the central hubs for ISIS are in the provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, but the group has a presence in all provinces of Afghanistan.”
However, following the deadly ISIS attack in Herat province, local officials from this group have acknowledged the actual presence of ISIS and deemed it concerning. A Taliban source in Herat told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that the deadly attack on the Muhammadiya township in this province, which resulted in the deaths of six people and was claimed by ISIS, has alarmed the Taliban. The source stated: “Individuals with three motorcycles carried out the attack. The concern now is, if this was an ISIS operation, how did they manage to have three motorcycles, prepare weapons for the attack, and carry out the assault on worshippers without any issues? The escape and disappearance of these ISIS motorcyclists have heightened worries among officials.”
In contrast, the Taliban have recently claimed that ISIS does not have a presence in Afghanistan. Khalid Zadran, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s police command in Kabul, told Iran’s IRNA news agency that ISIS aims to “send a message of insecurity from Afghanistan” under Taliban control to the world. This claim comes despite ISIS taking responsibility for three deadly attacks within less than a month, including the Herat attack against Hazaras, the killing of six people in Bamyan province, including three foreign tourists, and an attack on Taliban fighters in the province of Kandahar.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) announced that from January to March of this year, at least 36 people were killed and 118 others injured in ISIS attacks in Afghanistan.
On Thursday, May 2, UNAMA published a report at the behest of the UN Security Council regarding the human rights situation in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, stating that Shiites were primarily targeted in these attacks. According to the report, from January 6 to January 11, three hand grenade explosions in Kabul resulted in at least 79 civilian casualties.
Furthermore, Kamchybek Tashiev, head of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan, stated at a security meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Bishkek that the “presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan” threatens the borders of these countries. He indicated that the increasing number of terrorist groups in northern Afghanistan poses a security threat to the southern borders of the CIS countries.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
گسترش ساحه نفوذ داعش؛ ترس و انکار همزمان طالبان | روزنامه ۸صبح
