The Kabul airport explosion in August, as well as the subsequent explosions in numerous places in Afghanistan, prove that the Islamic State uses the Taliban’s tactics to attack the Afghan government. According to a Reuters report, the Taliban are underplaying the threat from ISIS-Khorasan, but the danger remains real.
The report said that the attackers pasted sticky bombs on the undersides of the cars, the same tactic used by the Taliban in the past. They employed this operation style to attack civil society figures and government officials. Reuters reports that Kabul-based Taliban officials have expressed concern over sticky bombs, which they once used to target their enemies in Kabul. ‘If these bombs are not controlled successfully, they could target our leadership’, the official said.
Despite the legitimacy of the Taliban government being restored in Afghanistan, groups like ISIS-K and Al Qaeda have seen their influence rise. Reuters spoke with intelligence officials who said that ISIS-K may still be capable of striking an attack despite claims by the Taliban that they killed three ISIS-K men on Wednesday night.
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First appearing in late 2014, ISIS-K declined in 2018, when both the US and Taliban began to target them. Experts claim that ISIS-K number under 2,000 fighters, drawn largely from the ranks of the Taliban or the Pakistani TTP. Though its funding has dried up, the release of prisoners by the Taliban after it captured Afghanistan strengthened the organization to some extent. According to the report, there are signs of resentment among Taliban members amid reports of clashes between the Taliban and Haqqanis. However, ISIS-K may gain new members.
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