The US has entered Afghanistan after 9/11 incident in the pretext of fight against terrorism. In that time Afghanistan was home to the Taliban, current Afghanistan ruler, and al-Qaeda terrorist group. The US blamed notorious al-Qaeda for the deadly incident and vowed revenge and was able to kill Osama bin Laden, the founder and first leader of al-Qaeda in Pakistan in 2011 and his successor Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Afghanistan just recently.

But the point is that when US entered Afghanistan there were the Taliban government and the presence of only al-Qaeda terrorist group, but how many terrorist groups are operating in Afghanistan now after US ended its 20 years of military presence in August 2021.

So reasonably, only al-Qaeda should have remained. Actually the number is much higher. There are over 20 terrorist groups, including the brutal Islamic State (IS), aka ISIS emerged under the very nose of US presence and the Afghan intelligence backed by the western countries. The group first appeared in 2014, and was taken lightly and even their presence was strongly denied until it carried out several deadly attacks, targeting mosques, shrines, hospitals, mortality clinics, wedding halls, passenger buses, Sikh temple and Hindu Gurdwara and etc… With the scope of these attacks, ISIS has been apparently pursuing an ideology of sectarian war, after failing to do so in Iraq and Syria.

It’s not the stop point, ISIS for years approached Taliban commanders, al-Qaeda fighters, Uzbekistan Islamic Movement and East Turkestan Islamic Movement with full preparations to further cement ties and find a strong foothold inside Afghanistan with their support.

Abdulrauf Hadim, one of the famous Taliban commanders joined ISIS and some members also pledged loyalty to the group after the death of Mullah Omar, the founder and leader of Taliban in Pakistan in 2013, but it was announced publicly in 2015.

Taliban is determined to fight against ISIS

But the Taliban has never shown any mercy to the ISIS, and never accepted it. Taliban has a strong resolve to fight ISIS terrorists and eliminate them from Afghanistan.

Taliban arrested over 670 ISIS militants in the last three months of their ruling starting from August 15, and also 25 hideouts of the group were destroyed in capital city Kabul, and eastern Nangarhar province during the span of time. Taliban also accused the former government of Ashraf Ghani for strengthening ISIS in order to use them against the Taliban during the war.

But still ISIS is posing a great threat to Afghanistan and also as a matter of worry for countries in the neighborhood and beyond. ISIS continues spilling blood in Afghanistan and intensified its attacks in the past several months and Taliban is seemingly are scrambling to quell the curtail terrorism waged by the terrorist group. In last several months, the terror group was particularly gruesome with its deadly attacks in Balkh, Kunduz, Kabul in which at least 100 people were killed and 200 more were wounded.

Russia, China and Iran can help

ISIS is following a revisionist policy by dividing the world into two – Darul Islamd and Darul Kufr, and a zero-tolerance or acceptance of the nation-state. This is the core reason which Russia, China and Iran among other regional countries described the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan as a big threat to their territorial integrity as well as peace and security of the region.

A senior Taliban official speaking to Harici said that ISIS is being used against the Taliban by the foreign powers as a pressure tool to terrify the current government and also to undermine the capability of the intelligence department.

“We will stop this deadly conspiracy against our innocent people. We started working day and night to neutralize ISIS terrorists,” the official told Harici, wishing to remain anonymous.

Without mentioning the name of any country, the official said some western countries are not happy with the Taliban ruling and shifted to support the ISIS to force the Taliban to accept their demands. “We fought for independence, we never accept any illogical demands of the foreign countries,” he said, and assured the Afghan citizens that Taliban security forces will ensure peace and security of the Afghans.

It poses a threat to the entire region

“ISIS is a phenomenon which is not only posing a threat to Afghanistan but to the region and beyond,” an Afghan expert Dr. Hikmat told Harici.

Concerns relating to ISIS have several dimensions and aspects, and according to Hikmat, it’s a project being run by the regional and world powers against the current Afghan government under Taliban leadership.

It’s a crystal fact that ISIS is fighting the current government, but the positive point is that Taliban has a clear standpoint against this brutal group, and they have already arrested dozens of them.

“But still there is a huge concern. If the interests of regional countries and beyond are dispirited in Afghanistan, they may turn to use ISIS against each other and abuse the Afghan soil,” Mr. Hikmat said.

In such a scenario, Hikmat said that China, Russia, Iran and Central Asian countries have their own concerns, and they support any efforts against ISIS for the sake of peace in the region.

There is a need for formation of a regional coalition against ISIS, otherwise, the fire will soon erupt to other countries and dealing with a bigger wild snake would be highly costly.

At the same time other extremist groups who have inactive presence could soon turn into active. “Extremist groups are not acceptable for the Afghan people, and the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri adds more salt to the wounds of Afghans,” the expert added.

The Taliban, indeed, is fighting against ISIS with a strong commitment and honesty, but at somehow they could not able to control ISIS’s influence and rescue the Afghan people from its scourge of terrorist activities.

Discussions over Pakistan

However, all the blame is attributed to the controversial neighbor Pakistan and has been accused of implementing and taking such projects from “west and east.”

“The Army and intelligence of Pakistan (ISI) working with US and UK to maintain their interests in Afghanistan and unfortunately the wrong policy of Pakistan lead to the influence of terrorist groups into the region,” the war pundit believes.

In an optimistic circumstance, ISIS would not have a significant impact on Afghan society nor find a concert response from the Afghans due its foreign origin but to carry more deadly attacks. Over 30 worshippers were killed and dozens more wounded in Wednesday evening’s blast inside a mosque in Afghan capital Kabul.

In a pessimistic view, ISIS will approach to recruit the criminals released from jails in line with the general amnesty declared by the Taliban soon after regaining power in August. Also poverty is the main reason where ISIS sees it as an opportunity to strengthen its rank. During winter time, when many Afghans were scrambling with food, ISIS focused on recruiting personnel but switched to deadly attacks soon at the beginning of summer.

They use poverty to persuade people

ISIS can’t use Islamic rules and regulation as the core reason for its war, but definitely use joblessness and poverty as a propaganda tool in a country where its people are facing a severe humanitarian crisis. It’s not a big decision for improvised Afghans to join ISIS in return for salaries in dollars.

“Afghanistan would never become a ISIS stronghold and we promise this to our citizens,” the senior Taliban official said.

The Afghans have suffered miserably in the last 43 years due to the war, the official assured to work for an Afghanistan to live in peace with itself, neighbors and world far away from extremist groups.