Leaked Pentagon documents on April 10, 2023, have revealed that ISIS is using Afghanistan to conduct terrorist operations and attacks across Europe and Asia.
The leaked documents claim that ISIS would be using its cell in Afghanistan, ISIS-K, to lead several plots against the United States, in addition to having wanted to attack embassies, churches and even the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Also, these documents show ISIS’s efforts to get a network of external operations outside Afghanistan with the aim of gaining expertise in the creation of chemical weapons and the handling of drones. It even reveals the plot in which the group’s followers would kidnap Iraqi diplomats from Iraqi embassies in France and Belgium to secure the release of some 4,000 imprisoned militants.
Although, the U.S. government has not confirmed the veracity of these documents, they have defended their counter-terrorism program since the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2021. Since that date, the Taliban have taken over the country and ISIS-K has enjoyed freedom to sabotage U.S. targets in the area.
Moreover, it is important to remember, ISIS-K and the Taliban are enemies as they do not have the same objectives with respect to the Caliphate. In fact, the Taliban may even serve as an ally of the United States in Afghanistan. In fact, it was the Taliban who killed the leader of the Kabul airport bombing in 2021. An attack that was perpetrated by the ISIS-K faction.
However, despite these documents affirming the rise of ISIS power in Afghanistan, they instead suggest that the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, once led by Osama bin Laden, has less and less regional influence, especially after U.S. Intelligence Services (CIA) had taken down the organization’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.