A senior Taliban leader has termed Pakistan’s assessment that Islamic State (IS) is gaining strength in Afghanistan as “motivated” and brought into existence to shift the focus of the international community to Afghanistan.
In the last week of December, at a high level meeting held in Moscow, that was attended by the representatives of Russia, China and Pakistan, the Pakistan government had underlined the “growing influence of the Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan and the impact it can have on the neighbouring region”.
The Taliban leader, who spoke to The Sunday Guardian requesting anonymity, did not deny the presence of the IS in the country, but stated that they were confined to a few pockets and their influence had come down substantially in the last few months.
“They are confided in the two provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar. Their number is less than 5000 and that has been decreasing. Their top leadership was eliminated in July last year and they are in a bad shape than what they were one year ago”, the leader said.
Last year in July, the US and Afghan Special Operations Forces had conducted an airstrike in Afghanistan that targeted and killed IS leader Hafiz Sayed Khan and 23 other senior commanders in Kot district of Nangarhar province.
In the last few months, Pakistan has been desperately trying to exploit Russia’s vulnerability regarding ISIS.
While not ruling out that some of the IS terrorists, who were fighting in Mosul and Raqqa, have come to Afghanistan, the leader stated that their number was very low as Iran had increased its security substantially along the traditional routes that was taken by the IS terrorists to cross over into Afghanistan from Iraq via Iran to prevent ISIS terrorists from entering Iran.
In the last few months, Pakistan has been desperately trying to exploit Russia’s vulnerability regarding IS and its policy makers have been reaching out to the Russian officials stating that the two countries need to work together to counter the IS threat.
The Indian intelligence community, too, have confirmed about the presence of IS in Afghanistan and the likelihood of IS shifting its focus to Afghanistan after the setback it has been receiving in Iraq and Syria. As per a recent assessment of the Indian intelligence officials, 22 persons from Kerala, who had gone missing between June and July last year, are said to be in an ISIS camp in Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan.
However, officials in the Indian intelligence community feel that Pakistan is deliberately trying to push Afghanistan as the new ISIS hotbed by telling that the emergence of ISIS in Afghanistan will endanger not just Pakistan but Russia, Iran and China too so that India’s efforts to brand it as a “terror state” are pushed into the background. The IS, according to experts, has around 3000 supporters in Nangarhar, a majority of them which have come from the neighbouring Pakistan.