Commenting on the release of the 16th biannual strategic-level report UN Secretary General on the threat posed by the Islamic State to international peace and security on Thursday, the US Deputy Representative to the UN, Richard Mills, said that the international community must not allow ISKP and other terrorist groups remain active in Afghanistan.
Richard Mills said: “We share the Secretary-General’s assessment of ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K). That group remains a significant terrorist threat in Central and South Asia. It continues to harbor ambitions to build capabilities to conduct external operations. It is critical that the international community deny safe-haven for ISIS-K, for al-Qa’ida, and its affiliates, in Afghanistan.”
“We are also gravely concerned by the Taliban’s edicts restricting women and girls from working for NGOs and attending school. These edicts are putting millions of innocent Afghans’ lives at risk as Afghanistan endures one of its coldest winters and grapples with emergency levels of food insecurity.”
The Taliban, Richard Mills said, should be pressed “to adhere to its counterterrorism commitments.”
