“There is no IS, not just in Nangarhar Province but all of Afghanistan,” said Dr Bashirmal, also known as Dr Bashir, during an interview with Nikkei Asia in the eastern province. He added that the group known as Daesh in the country is not a threat to national security.
The 29th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team of the UN Security Council – a document compiled by UN experts on IS between June and December – expressed concern about “the potential creation of a safe haven for the terror groups in Afghanistan for terrorist activity”.
IS of Khorasan Province (IS-KP) – the movement’s Afghan chapter – has emerged as a growing threat in the region since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August last year.
Since its inception in 2015, the IS-KP has been an opponent of the US-backed government of deposed president Ashraf Ghani, as well as the Taliban.
Even though the group controls only a small portion of the country, mainly in eastern Afghanistan, it has launched sophisticated attacks, making Afghanistan’s security situation even more fragile.
“Afghanistan is a traditional country and there are different tribes living here,” Bashir said.
“The country is 95% safe under our government’s rule. The remaining 5% are thugs and thieves that were released from prisons when the government was falling, and a lot of weapons ended up in their hands.”
Bashir added that criminal activity is related to “either stealing due to poverty or (people) engaged in personal enmity. They are killing each other and using the name of Daesh. So all these cases are mostly personal enmity rather than an issue of national security.”
But heavily guarded checkpoints manned by the Taliban’s elite forces in Jalalabad City, capital of Nangarhar Province, tell a different story.
“I have been working at this checkpoint for the last two months,” one person said.
“We check for thieves or weapons in these vehicles. Just recently, we arrested some people after we found weapons. We took them for questioning and they later turned out to be members of Daesh.”
The UN estimates that the number of IS-KP members has surged from 2,000 to 4,000 following the release of prisoners, most of them foreign fighters.
Asfandyar Mir, a senior expert at the US Institute of Peace, said the Taliban’s denial of the existence of IS in Afghanistan does not make the “terror group disappear or any less threatening”.
“The IS-KP remains a major threat to both the Taliban and vulnerable religious and ethnic groups in the country,” Mir said.
“The Taliban’s counterinsurgency is indiscriminate and wayward, which is fuelling the threat. The IS is also able to entice those disgruntled with the Taliban, as well as other major terror groups in the country who worry that the Taliban might turn on them, to satisfy the international community.”
There have been several reports of aggrieved Taliban fighters defecting to the IS-KP in recent months. The economic collapse has pushed millions of Afghans into poverty and left former Taliban fighters with no source of income.
Last week US President Joe Biden signed an executive order to free up US$7 billion out of US$9.5 billion of frozen Afghan capital, splitting it between humanitarian aid for Afghanistan and funds for 9/11 victims.
But Mir thinks this is misguided.
“I see the splitting of the funds to keep half for 9/11 victim litigants as morally dubious,” he said.
“To the extent there was a hope that an asset unfreeze will boost the flagging Afghan economy, that is clearly out of question for now. So as the economy and humanitarian crisis gradually deteriorate, (Biden’s order) may have an adverse effect on the country’s security.”
The Taliban have repeatedly committed themselves to the prevention of international threats originating from Afghanistan.
But the panel of experts highlights in the report that “there are no recent signs that the Taliban have taken steps to limit the activities of foreign terrorist fighters in the country. On the contrary, terrorist groups enjoy greater freedom there than at any time in recent history.”
Bashir insists, however, that their leader has directed them to forge diplomatic relations with all countries in the world.
“We want to have good relations with everyone,” he said. “We want to use these good relations to improve our country for its people. We don’t want any party to use Afghanistan to hurt anyone, be it our neighbours or any other country in the world.”