Kabul: General Kenneth McKenzie, Commander of the US Central Command, has expressed concern about the presence of the Islamic State (IS) terror group in Afghanistan, adding that Washington is still “sorting out what is going to happen” since the Taliban came to power last August.
“IS concerns us in Afghanistan… We know that the Taliban are no friends, particularly of IS and in fact over the past couple of years, they have occasionally under-taken operations against IS,” TOLO News quoted the General as saying in an interview.
“I think… what we see developing in Afghanistan is ungoverned and under-governed spaces which are areas were IS traditionally flourished and I think there is a risk, we know that IS does in fact have a desire to carry out external attacks, attacks against the US, the homeland of the US and attacks against the homeland of our neighbours in Europe and other places.
“So, I am concerned by what is happening in Afghanistan,” he added.
In similar remarks, Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Stanislav Zas, warned that the remergence of foreign terrorist groups, including the IS and Al Qaeda, are not only a threat to Afghanistan but to the whole region.
“We pay in our work particular attention to our southern borders. Afghanistan remains a long-term ongoing source of danger, given the unfolding socio-economic and humanitarian disaster stemming from the country, as well as the terrorist threat and the risk of drug trafficking. That is all increasing,” he said.
However, the Taliban’s Ministry of Defence have denied the claims regarding the presence of the IS and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, TOLO News reported.
“We deny these reports. We assure all the people that the security forces of the Islamic Emirate are ready to fight the terrorists. There is no terrorists in Afghanistan,” Inayatullah Khwarazami, a spokesman for the Ministry, said on Thursday.
