In a display of their enmity, ISIS communiqués refer to the Taliban as apostates.
The Taliban, for their part, refer to ISIS as “circles of evil.”
IS-K faced repression by the Taliban against its dissidents and was unable to expand its territory, as the group managed to do in Iraq and Syria. After Thursday’s attack, the Taliban said those responsible will be cracked down once the foreign troops leave.
In 2019, the Afghan government army, after joint operations with the United States, announced that it had defeated it in Nangarhar province.
According to US and UN assessments, IS-K has since operated largely through sleeper cells in cities to carry out media attacks.
The Islamic State was highly critical of last year’s agreement between Washington and the Taliban that led to a pact for the withdrawal of foreign troops, accusing them of abandoning the jihadist cause.
After the rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, various jihadist groups around the world congratulated them, but not IS.
An IS commentary published after the fall of Kabul accused the Taliban of betraying the jihadists with the agreement with Washington and promised to continue their fight, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors the communications of militant groups.
But this group could take advantage of the situation. “Mr. Q”, a Western expert who posts his investigations on Twitter under a pseudonym, claimed that IS-K carried out 216 attacks between January 1 and August 11, compared to 34 in the same period in 2020.
With information from AFP