Taliban do not say al-Qaeda or ISIS in Afghanistan

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Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban terrorist group said on Tuesday that there was no evidence that ISIS or al-Qaeda terrorists were in the country a few days after the ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the bomb attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Since defeating the Western-backed government in Kabul last month, the Taliban has been pressured by the international community to abandon its relationship with al-Qaeda, the terrorist group behind the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Facing.

At the same time, they have had to deal with a series of attacks alleged by ISIS affiliates and have been in conflict for several years over a mixture of economic and ideological controversies.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected accusations that al-Qaeda maintained its presence in Afghanistan and repeatedly pledged that there would be no attacks from Afghanistan on third countries by terrorist groups.

“No one in Afghanistan has anything to do with al-Qaeda,” he said at a press conference in Kabul. “From Afghanistan, we are committed to the fact that no country is at risk.”

The Taliban were expelled from power by US-led troops in 2001 for refusing to hand over al-Qaeda leaders responsible for the September 11 attack. They returned to Kabul last month after the US military announced they were leaving and the US-backed government and troops collapsed.

ISIS’s Afghan affiliate, known as ISIS-K, first appeared in eastern Afghanistan in 2014 and has since invaded other regions, especially the north.

A few years ago, the U.S. military put the power of the group on about 2,000 fighters, but some Afghan officials at the time estimated that more.

It fought US-led foreign troops and the Taliban to manage smuggling routes while apparently trying to build a global foundation.

The group claimed responsibility for a series of bomb attacks in the city of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan over the weekend. He also claimed that a suicide bomber at Kabul Airport last month killed 13 US troops and dozens of Afghan citizens who were flocking outside the airport gates.

The Mujahideen said they were “invisible and timid attacks,” but denied that the movement had a genuine presence in Afghanistan.

“The ISIS that exists in Iraq and Syria does not exist here. Still, some people who may be our own Afghans have adopted the ISIS spirit, a phenomenon that people do not support.” He said.

Reuters

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