The Taliban has denied the existence of any internal or external armed threats and said the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction’s recent report that denotes al-Qaeda, IS-K (Daesh), and the Resistance Front as threats was mere “propaganda”.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Taliban’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the report asserting that no foreign armed group is currently active in Afghanistan and claimed ISIS has been significantly weakened.
However, SIGAR emphasized in a tweet that Daesh continues to propagate against the Taliban and religious minorities in Afghanistan, and remains the most serious threat to the Taliban-led government.
“IS-K continued its campaign against the Taliban and religious minorities in Afghanistan and remains the most serious threat to the Taliban’s rule, with an estimated strength of between 1,000 and 3,000 fighters,” SIGAR tweeted.
Zabihullah Mujahid meanwhile also accused the United States of promoting ISIS in their statement. “No foreign armed group is active in Afghanistan and the intelligence project called ‘Daesh’ has also been severely damaged and is on the verge of being destroyed,” he said.
“There are no internal armed threats, and now, the people of Afghanistan live in a calm and peaceful situation,” Muhajid claimed.
Despite the Taliban’s claims of suppressing IS-K in Afghanistan, the terrorist group has carried out two separate attacks within a short period.
The first attack included the assassination of Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the deputy and acting governor of the Taliban in Badakhshan, resulting in two deaths and six injuries.
Two days later, a blast occurred at Ahmad’s funeral, which claimed the lives of 12 people, including Safiullah Samim, a former Taliban security commander in Baghlan, and left nearly 33 others injured.
These incidents highlight the ongoing security challenges in Afghanistan, particularly regarding the presence and activities of ISIS, despite the Taliban’s assertions.
