A Taliban spokesperson has welcomed remarks from Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said the Taliban have “managed to ensure security across Afghanistan.”
This comes as the international community remains deeply worried about Afghanistan’s security landscape. ISIS, seen as the Taliban’s biggest threat, has launched deadly attacks against the group over the past three years, targeting everyone from top ministry officials to provincial governors in sophisticated operations.
Among the high-profile casualties are Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani, a key Haqqani Network figure and Taliban refugee minister, and Mohammad Dawood Muzamil, the Taliban’s Balkh governor, both killed in Daesh suicide bombings. In November 2021, Daesh claimed an attack on Kabul’s Sardar Mohammad Dawood Khan military hospital, which took out Hamdullah Nurzai—known as “Mukhlas”—the Taliban’s central corps commander. Nurzai, the first senior Taliban figure to enter the presidential palace after Kabul’s fall, became widely recognized after posting a photo of himself in the presidential chair, a moment that went viral on social media.
ISIS has also struck Taliban judicial institutions, including their prosecution headquarters, and hit dozens of military and security targets. The group has effectively targeted Hazaras and other religious minorities, while assassinating several prominent Taliban clerics over the past three years.
Meanwhile, the United States and United Nations have repeatedly warned of ISIS’s growing footprint in Afghanistan, pressing for urgent action to curb the group. The Taliban, however, have consistently downplayed ISIS’s presence and operational strength, brushing off the threat as minor.
