New Delhi: left vulnerable after withdrawal of American troops in August, some former member of the Afghan intelligence service has turned to the only way they found: the enemy of Taliban, Islamic State.
According to a report on the Wall Street Journal, several members of the US-trained forces joined the regional affiliates of extremist groups, ISIS-Khorasan, after the Taliban began looking for their homes and demanding them with the country’s new authority.
While the number of defectors who joined ISIS was small, the recruits have brought significant skills to terror groups, directly from the intelligence for war techniques.
Rahmatullah Nabil, former Afghan’s eyes head of the National Security Directorate, told WSJ that ISIS had become very attractive to Afghan forces “who had been abandoned”.
“If there is a resistance, they will join the resistance …
for now, ISIS is the only other armed group,” Nabil said.
After the dominant Taliban takeover, the new ruler faced a brief resistance at Panjshir Valley.
But resistance grew a week after surviving for several weeks with most of his leaders fled abroad.
The WSJ report said that thousands of former Afghan soldiers and police personnel remained unemployed since the Taliban took over and only a small portion of those who decided to work under the new ruler.
Like almost all other Afghan government employees, they have not been paid for months, the report said.
It was said that in addition to the protection of the Taliban, ISIS lured the former Afghan army with a significant amount of money.
With ISIS ranking gradually swelling, there was fears that terror groups could finally pose a threat to the Western world.
The US intelligence community has assessed that the Islamic State in Afghanistan can have the ability to attack the United States in just six months, and have the intention to do so, a senior Pentagon official has told Congress last week.
Colin Kahl, under the Secretary of the defense for the policy, said it was still unclear whether the Taliban had the ability to fight ISIS effectively following US withdrawal.
The United States against the Taliban and striking groups such as Islamic countries and al-Qaeda.
Is that Isis-K? The month after the Islamic State stated the Caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2014, Breakaway fighters from Pakistan Taliban joined militants in Afghanistan to form a regional chapter, confirming loyalty to the leader of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
The group was officially recognized by the leadership of the Central Islamic State next year because the roots drowned in northeast Afghanistan, especially Kunar, Nangarhar and Nuristan.
It also managed to regulate sleep cells in other parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, including Kabul, according to the UN monitor.
The latest estimate of its strength varies from several thousand active fighters to as low as 500, according to the UN Security Council report released last month.
“Khorasan” is a historical name for this region, taking part of what is today Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Taliban vs.
Isis-Kdespite became a Sunni hardline group, Taliban and Isis-K have been in their throat for several years in Afghanistan.
Groups have been different in religious minutiae and strategies, while claiming to be the bearer of the real jihad flag.
Tussle has caused a bloody battle between the two, with the Taliban emerging most of the win after 2019 when IS-Khorasan failed to secure the area when the parent group was in the Middle East.
In a sign of hostility between the two jihadist groups, the statement has referred to the Taliban as an apostate.
The Taliban also accused the ISIS-Khorasan province is the creation of the Afghan intelligence service and we aim to sow the division in the Islamic rebellion.
Claims have been rejected by Washington and the Afghan government are overthrown.
Isis-K has been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan in recent years, such as targeting students, hospitals, and even maternity wards in Kabul, killing newborns and pregnant women.
It also claimed the airport bombing attack in Kabul in August when the score scrambled to escape from a torn country.
(With input from the agency)