Afghanistan Times
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A recently released video purportedly by the ISIS fighters in eastern Afghanistan has didn’t unleash the uproar it must have. There is just a knee jerk reaction. In the video the ISIS fighters forced a group of blindfolded Taliban supporters or what they said the apostates to kneel over planted devices set to blow them to pieces. This is not the first ever time the ISIS has released its videos regarding Afghanistan.
Though, the Afghan security forces are teaching bitter lessons to the godless terrorists but yet there is need for significant efforts to eliminate Daesh. A couple of days back, the national spy service, NDS arrested the alleged Facebook recruiter for Daesh synonym of ISIS. He was arrested from Kabul along with five others, the spy service claimed. In yet another development against Daesh, Hafiz Wahedi, nephew of Mullah Abdul Rauf, who was killed earlier in February, is also among those killed. He was believed to be Mullah Rauf’s successor. After his killing, now this is not known who is heading Daesh in Afghanistan, but it is becoming dreaded day by day and even the barbaric Taliban are dwarfed in front of Daesh’s barbarism. The death reports of the Taliban’s figurehead Mullah Omar has also emboldened the ISIS and its bid to widen its influence and network across the country. When the Taliban movement seems plagued by ruptures, Daesh has been trying to expand even into the Taliban’s territories. Daesh is boldly challenging the Taliban’s territory inside Afghanistan which has unleashed a turf war. NDS said will probe into the release of the video. Hafez Saeed, the leader of Daesh for so-called Khurasan—a state Daesh announced for the region stretching from Afghanistan to India, was killed in an airstrike in eastern Nangarhar province. He was killed along with 30 others in the airstrike in Achin district. It was a third successful development and a biggest attack against Daesh. Before Saeed, Gul Zaman, the group’s number-2 was killed in Afghanistan in a drone strike in the same district. Maulavi Shahidullah Shahid, an ex-TTP spokesman and the first one to pledge allegiance to Daesh, was also killed in a similar attack in Nangarhar. Yet despite that Daesh has been hell-bent on expanding its influence in this eastern province. The government and its security apparatus must try to know that why Daesh has been trying it’s hard to gain roots in Nangarhar and why the Taliban are trying their last ditch efforts to expand their sway in northern Afghanistan. This is not something happening without pre-designed plans. Until the government succeeds in deciphering their designs, the nation will just receive news regarding their barbaric acts such as beheadings of people and mutilating them while forcing them to kneel on planted explosives. The government must also try to arrest the spread of Daesh at all costs because once it successfully replaces the Taliban as a resistance movement, then peace talks with the Taliban wouldn’t have any meanings. Now the government will have to fight on three fronts: taming the insecurity caused by the Taliban insurgents; arresting the spread of Daesh; and taking the Taliban to the table of negotiations.
Doing all the three works simultaneously is an exhaustive and challenging job, but there is no other way out. This is a must and when there is no option, they must fully allocate all its energies—financial capitals and physical energies as the time for peace talks with the Taliban is quite conducive and the need is hitting the nail on the head.
