WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES – The U.S. Department of State says that Washington is working with its allies to ensure that Afghanistan never serves as a “launching pad for terrorist attacks” against the U.S. or its allies.
During a press briefing on Thursday, August 1, Vedant Patel, the deputy spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, said that the U.S. is working with its allies to prevent the re-emergence of external threats from Afghanistan.
“We are cooperating with partners and allies, including in the immediate region; and we’re working vigilantly to prevent the re-emergence of external threats from Afghanistan, including by working with partners to counteract terrorist recruitment efforts as well,” Patel said.
“We are taking a whole-of-government approach to our Afghanistan counterterrorism efforts,” he added.
Mr. Patel described the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-KP), a regional affiliate of ISIS, as a “transnational terrorist network,” highlighting that it has both the ambition and capability to conduct international terrorist attacks.
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has intensified security concerns within the region and the global community. These concerns are rooted in the potential resurgence of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS-K, and TTP, all of which pose a significant threat to regional and global stability.
Despite the Taliban’s claims of having suppressed IS-KP and assuring the regional and international community that Afghanistan no longer poses a threat, a recent report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reveals that the regime is unable to effectively counter these groups or prevent them from launching attacks beyond Afghanistan’s borders.
The Washington-based think tank highlighted in the report that IS-KP has managed to infiltrate the Taliban’s security forces, undermining the regime’s ability to effectively counter the group.
“Taliban security forces have repeatedly arrested local Taliban officials on charges of working for ISKP, particularly in northern and central Afghanistan,” part of the report reads.
To disrupt IS-KP’s financial operations in Afghanistan, the U.S. Department of State announced last month a reward of up to $10 million for information that leads to the identification and disruption of the group’s revenue sources and key financial facilitation mechanisms.
According to the department, IS-KP primarily funds its operations by extracting natural resources, including those from lucrative talc mines, and smuggling these resources out of the country.
