US media: Worried about the Taliban pursuit, some former Afghan officials have defected to the "Islamic State"

The Paper's reporter Wang Lu

After the hasty withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan at the end of August, some former Afghan government intelligence agencies and elite troops who had received U.S. training joined the extremist group Islamic State for fear of being hunted down by the Afghan Taliban.

According to the Wall Street Journal reported on October 31, Taliban officials, former Afghan security officials and others said that the number of people joining the extremist group "Islamic State" is still relatively small, but it is increasing. More intractable is that these former government officials brought to the Islamic State key expertise in intelligence gathering and warfare technology, helping to strengthen the extremist group's ability to counter the Taliban regime.

According to a former Afghan government official, a former Afghan National Army officer he knew had joined the extremist group Islamic State Khorasan Province. A week ago, the officer was killed in clashes with Taliban militants. The former official also said several other former Afghan intelligence agencies and military members he knew had joined the Islamic State after the Taliban conducted a home search operation and demanded that former government officials turn themselves in.

The Islamic State province of Khorasan takes its name from the ancient name Khorasan (meaning "where the sun rises" in Persian) in eastern Iran, parts of Afghanistan, and southern Central Asia. The group has been active in eastern Afghanistan since the second half of 2014 and later identified itself as a branch of the extremist group Islamic State in Central and South Asia. Since then, the organization's style of conduct has been known for its violence and cruelty.

A resident living in northern Kabul said his cousin, a former senior member of the Afghan special forces, disappeared last September and is now a member of the Islamic State. He added that four other former Members of the Afghan National Army, whom he knew, had also joined islamic State Khorasan Governorate in recent weeks.

Rahmatura Nabil, former director of the National Security Service, the Afghan intelligence agency, left afghanistan shortly before the Taliban occupied afghanistan. "If there is resistance, they will join the resistance." "Currently, is the Islamic State is the only armed group that has resisted the Taliban," Nabil said. ”

Previously, after the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15, the anti-Taliban coalition formed the Afghan National Resistance Front in Panjahir. However, Taliban spokesman Mujahid said at a press conference on September 6 that the Taliban have full control of Panjshir province and that the war in Afghanistan is over. Although the National Resistance Front denied this, an official of the Front admitted in an interview with The Washington Post: "Panjahir has fallen. The Taliban took control of government offices and entered the governor's residence. ”

Right now, despite the Taliban's promise of amnesty, hundreds of thousands of former Afghan government intelligence officials, soldiers and police are unemployed and fear their lives. Only a small percentage of them returned to work under the Taliban. Former security officials said the extremist group Islamic State was able to protect itself from attacks by the Taliban. At the same time, the organization has provided significant funding to its newly recruited members in Afghanistan.

It is worth vigilance that the recent "Islamic State Khorasan Province" has continuously caused trouble for the Afghan Taliban in the form of terrorist attacks, and the Taliban has also begun to increase the crackdown on the "Islamic State Khorasan Province". For example, on September 18 and 19, there were a series of bombings in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province in Afghanistan, and the extremist group "Islamic State" declared it responsible. On September 29, the Taliban launched attacks on ISIS Khorasan governorate militants in Nangarhar and Kabul provinces, the headquarters of the Islamic State in Khorasan province, capturing many members of the group.

In addition, Reuters reported that Colin Carr, the deputy secretary of defense for policy affairs, told the U.S. Congress on October 26 that U.S. intelligence agencies assessed that the Extremist Group " Islamic State " , which is currently active in Afghanistan , may gain the capability to attack the United States as soon as six months , and that they have the will to do so.

Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Wuwei

Proofreader: Yijia Xu