The Islamic State’s regional affiliate (IS-KP) has claimed responsibility for the explosion that struck a vehicle in Kabul city, killing at least three individuals and injuring four others.
As reported by the Taliban spokesman for Kabul police, Khalid Zadran, the explosion took place in the Alokhil area of Kabul’s 16th district around 3:50 pm local time on Tuesday, January 9.
The Islamic State, according to the Associated Press, said that it detonated an explosive device on a vehicle belonging to employees of Afghanistan’s main prison in Kabul. The group added that the blast killed and wounded about ten people.
This incident marks the most recent targeting of civilians in the country. On Saturday, January 6, the militant group attacked a minibus in the western part of Kabul city, which killed five civilians and injured over 15 others. The attack targeted Hazara-Shia civilians that the group has long vowed enmity with. Its attacks since 2015 have taken thousands of Hazara lives, most of them young men and women in education centers, athletic clubs, and other venues of socio-cultural and recreational gatherings.
Following their takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the threat posed by terrorism in the country and the region has grown. The ruling regime in Afghanistan has consistently reassured its commitment to uphold the Doha Agreement signed between the group and the United States in Doha in 2020. The agreement includes commitments to prevent the use of Afghanistan soil by any international terrorist groups or individuals, including the IS-KP. Similar commitments have been made to neighboring countries multiple times. However, ISIS affiliates have persistently attacked civilians mostly religious minority groups, particularly the Hazara-Shia, in Afghanistan over the past two years.
The ISIS affiliates have also targeted high-ranking Taliban officials in the past two years. In March of last year, IS-KP claimed responsibility for the killing of the Taliban governor of the northern Balkh province, Mohammad Dawood Muzammil. In June, they killed Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the group’s governor for northeastern Badakhshan province.
According to a leaked Pentagon document, seen by the Washington Post in April 2023, Afghanistan has become a “significant coordination site” for the Islamic State, as the group plans to carry out attacks in Asia and Europe, with the aspiration to reach the US. the document revealed that ISIS has been persistent in its efforts to obtain expertise in creating chemical weapons and acquiring and operating drones. the group has taken advantage of Afghanistan’s weakened security under the Taliban to expand its network and operations in the country.
In a letter to Congress in December 2023, the US President, Joe Biden, stated that “United States military personnel remain postured outside Afghanistan to address threats to the United States homeland and United States interests that may arise from inside Afghanistan.”
Earlier, the US Department of State, said in its annual report that IS-KP continues to conduct terrorist attacks against civilians in Afghanistan, particularly members of the Shia community and the Taliban. “In 2022, ISIS-K conducted cross-border attacks in Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan and maintained ambitions to attack the West,” the report noted.
“While the Taliban committed to preventing terrorist groups from using Afghanistan to conduct attacks against the United States and its allies, its ability to prevent al-Qa’ida elements, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and ISIS-K from mounting external operations remained unclear,” the report said.
The Taliban, however, has constantly rejected the concerns raised by the U.S. and neighboring countries, claiming that their security forces have significantly degraded IS-KP’s abilities, preventing it from posing a threat to Afghanistan or beyond.
