fghanistan’s Taliban autocrats said on Tuesday there was no substantiation of Islamic State or al-Qaeda zealots being in the country,
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Since tripping the Western- backed government in Kabul last month, the Taliban have faced pressure from the transnational community to renounce ties with al-Qaeda, the group behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
At the same time, they’ve had to deal with a series of attacks claimed by an chapter of Islamic State, with which they’ve been in conflict for several times over a blend of profitable and ideological controversies.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid rejected allegations that al-Qaeda maintained a presence in Afghanistan and repeated pledges that there would be no attacks on third countries from Afghanistan from militant movements.
“We don’t see anyone in Afghanistan who has anything to do with al-Qaeda,”he told a news conference in Kabul.”We’re committed to the fact that, from Afghanistan, there won’t be any peril to any country.”
The Taliban were ousted from power by US- led forces in 2001 for refusing to hand over al-Qaeda leaders responsible for the Septemper 11 attacks. They returned to Kabul last month after US forces blazoned they were leaving and theU.S.- backed government and military collapsed.
The Afghan chapter of Islamic State, known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), after an old name for the region, first appeared in eastern Afghanistan in 2014 and latterly made raids into other areas, particularly the north.
Several times agone, the US service put the group’s strength at about fighters, though some Afghan officers at the time estimated the number was advanced.
It battled US- led foreign forces and the Taliban, for control of smuggling routes while also supposedly seeking to make a global Caliphate.
The group claimed responsibility for a series of lemon attacks in the megacity of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan at the weekend read more. It also claimed a self-murder lemon attack at Kabul field last month that killed 13 US colors and scores of Afghan civilians who had crowded outside the field gates.
Mujahid denied the movement had any genuine presence in Afghanistan though he said it”invisibly carries out some dastardly attacks”.
“The ISIS that exists in Iraq and Syria doesn’t live then. Still, some people who may be our own Afghans have espoused the ISIS intelligence, which is a miracle that the people don’t support,”he said.