Hyderabad: A growing number of US-trained Afghan soldiers and intelligence officials are reportedly joining the ISKP (Islamic State of Khorasan Province) terror group, indirectly proving the Taliban’s theory of Washington funding the terror group right.
In August, Afghan forces crumbled before the Taliban’s reconquest of the country despite the US spending a staggering $88 billion arming and training Afghanistan’s military. Even though the Taliban has declared a general amnesty, allegations of violent reprisals against ex-Afghan army personnel have been floating around.
Moreover, according to the Wall Street Journal, a relatively small, but growing number of former Afghan soldiers and spies, abandoned by their American patrons and reportedly hunted down by the new Taliban regime, are flocking to the only armed outfit currently resisting Taliban rule- the Islamic State of Khorasan Province, which is an internationally designated terrorist group.
ISIS’s Afghan offshoot, ISKP is reportedly eagerly absorbing these US-trained recruits. The Wall Street Journal quoted former security officials and Taliban members saying that some former government troops have joined for a paycheck, and others for a lack of a better alternative to Taliban rule.
“If there were a resistance, they would have joined the resistance.” He added that for the time being, ISIS is the only other armed group,” former spy chief, Rahmatullah Nabil told the paper.
The ISKP was initially suppressed by the Taliban, however, amid the chaos of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the terror group carried out a suicide bombing outside Kabul airport in August killing around 200 Afghans and 13 US troops making it the bloodiest day in Afghanistan since 2011.
However, the Taliban’s senior commander, Mawlawi Zubair, was quoted by WSJ as saying, “We are not faced with a threat nor are we worried about them.” He added that there is no need, not even a tiny need for the Islamic Emirates to seek assistance from anyone against ISIS.