Bomb blast kills 10 in southern Afghanistan

When Afghan President Ashraf Ghani took office a year ago, he called on the Taliban and other insurgent groups to join peace talks and end the bloodshed in the country.

Talking to media in Kabul, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Seddiq Seddiqi said that Afghan intelligence reports indicated that Daesh only had footprints only in Helmand and Nangarhar provinces, and not in 25 provinces as the United Nations claimed.

The report said:

“The number of groups and individuals who are openly declaring either loyalty to or sympathy with ISIL continues to grow in a number of provinces in Afghanistan.”

Taliban asked the Daesh leader to keep his men out of Afghanistan by withdrawing his support for those elements that are recruiting young militants in Taliban strongholds.

ISIS first declared their Islamic State in Afghanistan and Pakistan on 26 January this year when rebelling Taliban commanders swore allegiance to leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Nangarhar residents have reportedly become fed up with IS in the province following multiple killings of innocent civilians.

The report also said Afghan security forces estimated that about 10 percent of Taliban militants were also Islamic State “sympathizers” and that IS had some form of “branding or sympathy” in about two-thirds of the country’s provinces.

It added that Afghan security authorities are labelling the situation as a “potential new threat” but are not considering immediate action.

The Taliban, who have themselves often been accused of savagery during their 14-year insurgency, are seeking to appear as a bulwark against IS’s brutality and as a legitimate group waging an Islamic war.

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