ISLAMABAD
\nThe Afghan Taliban are ready to cooperate with the US in combating the militant group Islamic State (IS) as they see jihadists \u2018a threat to their own powerbase,\u2019 American news paper reported. The Afghan government has been battling IS since August 2021 when it seized power after a 20-year-long war with the US and its allies, the report said while quoting US defence officials.
\nA senior defence official told that \u201cthe duelling groups of religious fanatics are openly warring,\u201d with the IS, attacking Afghan Taliban\u2019s targets with the latter retaliating by targeting the former\u2019s hideouts across Afghanistan.
\n\u201cI would never want to say that we had mortgaged our counterterrorism to a group like the Taliban, but it\u2019s a fact that, operationally, they put pressure on ISIS-K,\u201d the official said. \u201cIn a strange world, we have mutually beneficial objectives there.\u201d
\nSome part of the report was based on a leaked Pentagon assessment, claiming that the IS was once again using Afghanistan as a staging ground for plots against America, Europe and Asia.
\nThe report portrayed the resurrected threat as a growing security concern.
\nWhen asked to comment, a US defence official acknowledged that \u201cthe (Afghan) Taliban has served as a check on ISIS\u201d since 2021, when the group took over Kabul.
\nThe Pentagon assessment cited specific plans to target churches, embassies, business centres and the World Cup soccer tournament. The report said that The White House declined to verify the assessment\u2019s authenticity, although it was labelled top-secret and bore the logo of the Defense Department\u2019s organisations.
\nThe classified documents were posted online as part of a wider leak by Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeria, who federal authorities said shared them with friends on a private Discord server.
\nCurrent and former US officials told that the leaked reports support earlier warnings that terrorist cells could return to life in Afghanistan.
\nThe Biden administration, however, defended its counter-terrorism policies in a statement to the newspaper.
\nThe United States \u201cmaintains the ability to remove terrorists from the battlefield without permanent troop presence on the ground,\u201d National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson told.
\nNathan Sales, the State Department\u2019s coordinator for counterterrorism told that IS \u201chas the ambition to attack American interests in the region and ultimately the US homeland itself.\u201d
\nHe urged Washington to make an urgent plan to attack the group\u2019s leadership and infrastructure.
\nThe Afghan Taliban has rejected the US intelligence assessment as incorrect.
\nA spokesperson for the Taliban\u2019s Political Office, Suhail Shaheen, said IS \u201chas been suppressed\u201d and the report \u201cdoes not reflect ground realities in Afghanistan.\u201d
\n\u201cSuch reports reflect personal desires\u201d of their authors, he said, adding: \u201cThe fact is that the [IS] has no physical presence in Afghanistan as it had during the invasion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD The Afghan Taliban are ready to cooperate with the US in combating the militant group Islamic State (IS) as they see jihadists \u2018a threat to their own powerbase,\u2019 American news paper reported. The Afghan government has been battling IS since August 2021 when it seized power after a 20-year-long war with the US and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-327497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n