Afghanistan: IS claims responsibility for attack, death toll rises to 180
Afghanistan: IS attacks Kabul airport
The United States and its allies have been warning of a possible terrorist attack on Kabul airport for several days. IS has admitted to the incident. CNN reported on Friday (August 26th), citing Afghan health ministry officials, that 13 of the 160 people killed were US troops and three British nationals.
The New York Times reports that the death toll has risen to 160, excluding 13 U.S. troops.
Afghanistan: Who is the IS attacker at Kabul airport?
Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said the threat of an attack had been growing in Kabul since the evacuation process began.
"The threat of a terrorist attack could come from anyone - the Taliban, Islamic State or Al Qaeda. The attack could come from either of them," he said.
Who is this IS?
The name used by the Islamic State group in Afghanistan is the Islamic State of Khorasan Province.
Here the word Khorasan comes from the ancient name of the region with modern Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The ISK group was born in January 2015.
Its main base is in the eastern province of Nangarhar in Afghanistan. This area bordering Pakistan is notorious for drug and human trafficking.
Its members are mainly Afghan and Pakistani jihadists. Many defectors from the Afghan Taliban have joined IS-K.
Harder than the Taliban
IS is many times more radical than the Taliban in Afghanistan. They see the Afghan Taliban as an enemy. According to their interpretation of Islamic law, it is considered 'permissible' to target the Taliban as 'apostates'.
He condemned the peace deal reached between the United States and the Taliban in Afghanistan on February 29 last year and said that they would continue their fight in Afghanistan.
The group also rejected the Taliban's occupation of Afghanistan, claiming that the Americans had handed over Afghanistan to the Taliban as part of a secret deal.
The BBC's security analyst, Frank Gardner, says there is still some kind of IS-K link with the Taliban, especially through third parties.
Citing researchers, he said there was a link between IS and the Haqqani network.
The Taliban, on the other hand, has ties to the Haqqani network.
IS suffered a major military defeat in 1919, and several of its leaders were captured in April 2020.
However, IS has regained its strength and has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in Afghanistan during peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar.
According to Frank Gardner, IS has carried out 24 attacks in Afghanistan in the past year alone.
IS has attacked girls' schools, hospitals, and even hospital maternity wards where they have reportedly shot pregnant women.
They also carried out an attack inside Iran in 2016.
Organizationally, IS initially consisted of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but in May 2019, the Islamic State announced the name of a separate group called the "Province of Pakistan."
The IS has been targeted by the Afghan military, Afghan politicians, the Taliban, Shia Muslims and Sikhs, as well as various religious minorities, the US and NATO forces, and various international organizations, NGOs and relief agencies working in the country.
Mike Jackson, a former U.S. Army commander who has served in Afghanistan, says observers are "fearing that this will happen."
Analysts believe that ISIS-Khorasan, a branch of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, may be behind this.
Colonel Jackson said he thought ISIS-Khorasan would "definitely" launch another attack on the exiled people.
“They have weapons and equipment in their hands and they have the ability to carry out attacks in that area,” he said. "Their target is unarmed people who are desperate to leave the country."
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