Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said that Daesh, also known as the Islamic State, is more interested in Central Asia than Afghanistan, but the global terrorist organization had little capabilities to make inroad into the region.
“ISIL [Daesh] comes to Afghanistan and says it is not actually interested in Afghanistan. Their interests lie across the river in Central Asia. Why? Because according to some estimates, up to 50-60 percent of IS militants are citizens of Central Asia, North Caucasus and, accordingly, they want to move forward. But presently they do not have enough potential to do so,” the Sputnik International, a Russian news agency, quoted him.
The Russian deputy foreign minister said that Daesh was engaged in fighting for resources with the Taliban insurgents in areas that was used as a recruitment base for the terrorist group.
In October 2015, the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has vowed to enhance cooperation with the Afghan security forces (ANSF) to prevent Daesh from expanding in the region.
The deputy director of the RATS executive committee, Vitaly Burov, said that Daesh has been posing serious threats to the Central Asian Republics.
In December 2015, Russia’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Zamir Kabulov, said that Moscow was sharing intelligence with the Taliban about Daesh. Kabulov believed that it would help Russia to clip growing wings of the terrorist group.
