by WorldTribune Staff, November 2, 2021
Former Afghan security personnel who aided the United States during the war are now being hunted by the Taliban and have resorted to joining the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) after being abandoned by Team Biden, a report said.
A former Afghan official told the Wall Street Journal that several members of the country’s former intelligence and military joined ISIS-K after the Taliban raided their homes “and demanded that they present themselves to the country’s new authorities.”
“The number of defectors joining the terrorist group is relatively small, but growing, according to Taliban leaders, former Afghan republic security officials and people who know the defectors. Importantly, these new recruits bring to Islamic State critical expertise in intelligence-gathering and warfare techniques, potentially strengthening the extremist organization’s ability to contest Taliban supremacy,” the Oct. 31 report said.
“If there were a resistance, they would have joined the resistance. But, for the time being, ISIS is the only other armed group,” Rahmatullah Nabil, former head of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, told the Journal
“In some areas, ISIS has become very attractive” to Afghan military “who have been left behind,” Nabil added.
One of those left behind by Team Biden who joined ISIS-K was an Afghan national army officer who previously “commanded the military’s weapons and ammunition depot in Gardez, the capital of southeastern Paktia province,” the Journal reported. That army officer was reportedly killed during a battle with the Taliban last month.
The Pentagon has warned that ISIS-K could soon have the capability to attack Western countries and their allies.
Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy, told the Senate Armed Service Committee last month that the U.S. intelligence community determined ISIS-K could be ready to attack the West in 6 months to a year and that Al Qaida could be ready for such an attack in one to two years.
“It is our assessment that the Taliban and ISIS-K are mortal enemies. So, the Taliban is highly motivated to go after ISIS-K. Their ability to do so, I think, is to be determined,” Kahl said.
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