According to General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. (U.S.CENTCOM commander), the Taliban will be faced with ISIS-K after the U.S. military has completely withdrawn from Afghanistan.
After defeating the U.S.-backed, trained Afghan forces in just two weeks, the Taliban came to power earlier this month in Afghanistan. They released thousands of ISIS-K fighters from the Parwan Detention Facility in Bagram as well as a separate prison called Pul-e-Charkhi.
According to the Wall Street Journal, while the Taliban released the prisoners from their rival organization, Taliban fighters killed Abu Omar Khorasani (a former leader of ISIS-K) and eight other members.
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McKenzie stated Monday that he believes the Taliban will be overwhelmed by ISIS-K. He also said that they released those prisoners from prisons and now they can reap what they sow." McKenzie made these remarks during Monday's Pentagon briefing. McKenzie announced that all U.S. troops had departed Afghanistan.
During the two weeks that the United States and other Western countries had evacuated Afghan nationals and allies, the Taliban worked alongside U.S. forces. McKenzie pointed out that the two sides were on opposite ends of the war's infancy and became logical partners in the evacuation as both sides had the same goal: to see U.S. troops leave on August 31.
He said, "They remain very deadly force, and I believe we would assess that probably theres at least 2000 hardcore ISIS fighters now in Afghanistan now." "And, of coarse, many of them come from prisons that were only opened a few days back. This means that the number of prisoners is likely to be higher than it has been for quite some time. This will prove to be a problem for the Taliban in the coming days."
John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesperson, stated last week that the number of ISIS fighters who were released from prisons was "clearly...in the thousands."
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Since the evacuations began on August 14, U.S. military officials and the Biden administration warned repeatedly of an ISIS-K attack. These fears were realized last Thursday when a suicide bomber attacked Hamid Karzai International Airport, killing 13 U.S. military personnel and approximately 170 others.
The U.S. military stopped them from attempting other attacks. One instance was when the U.S. used airstrikes to strike a vehicle with explosives inside it. Capt. Bill Urban observed significant secondary explosions coming from the vehicle. This indicates that there was a lot of explosive material.
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He said that the Pentagon was aware of reports of civilian casualties and that officials were investigating further."
Five rockets were also fired at the airport Monday. The U.S. was able to stop them.
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Tags: News, Taliban, ISIS, War in Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Defense, Pentagon, Terrorism
Mike Brest is the Original Author
Original Location: ISIS-K will be a problem for the Taliban, US commander claims
