The Taliban are in power but not in control of the country. In the past 18 months, the United States has not had a single US soldier fallen in Afghanistan. 13 US marines were killed in a suicide attack at Kabul airport on Thursday. US President Joe Biden (78) calls them “heroes”. But not that he also accuses the new rulers in Afghanistan as masterminds behind the attack. Biden swore revenge in the White House to bring down the assassins. The old protective power of Afghanistan and the new rulers have a “common interest,” said Biden. In other words: the two enemies of the war work together against a common enemy: the Afghanistan branch of the Islamic State (IS). He confessed to the bloodbath in Kabul. Two IS suicide bombers blew themselves up on Thursday: one at the airport, one at a hotel.
“The Taliban are not good people,” said Biden. “But we have a common interest.” The new rulers of Afghanistan have a vital interest in working with the international community. The Taliban not only wanted to keep the airport in Kabul open, but could not do so without outside help, he said. They also have an interest in not letting the economy crash. And: The USA and the Taliban have a common enemy of war that is now trying to exploit the power vacuum in the country: the Islamic State of Khorasan, also known as IS-K, the Afghanistan branch of the terror group. Biden warned of IS-K attacks on Tuesday.
$ 5 million bounty
The carnage in Kabul throws back the efforts of the Taliban to show themselves to their own people and the world as the new rulers who bring security and stability. Assassinations were commonplace among the overthrown US-backed Afghan government. But now the Taliban are being overturned by even more radical Islamists. The IS terrorist group confessed to the attacks and is celebrating the deaths of the US marines and dozens of civilian victims who tried to flee the country as a propaganda success.
While flags in the United States are hoisted at half-mast after the carnage in Kabul, the Americans set out to hunt down the assassins – and hope for help from the Taliban. This is despite the fact that the Taliban have released numerous imprisoned Islamists since they came to power. Radical Islamists are also showing up in the streets in Kabul. Videos of hot spurs cursing foreigners in public are circulating on social media.
Last week, Kabul also gave Khalil Haqqani a hero’s reception last week. The US has one Five million dollar bounty exposed to the wanted terrorist. There is even a Haqqani terror network named after him. Haqqani, whom Pakistan – like Osama bin Laden – offered protection for years, is now responsible for security in Kabul.
US secret campaign
Not only Haqqani and ISIS, which is hostile to the Taliban, are back in Afghanistan. Pashtun Pakistani terrorist militias have been exerting influence over other Central Asian nations for years. But after the total withdrawal of the Americans, the Taliban are likely to be at war with the IS-K beforehand. The Central Asian branch of ISIS is to receive orders from the IS core countries of Iraq and Syria. There is a power vacuum in Afghanistan, and IS-K is taking advantage of the chaotic situation.
The Taliban and IS-K have been at war for years, like them Washington Post reported in October 2020. Last year the US even waged a secret campaign to help its longtime enemy, the Taliban, defeat the Islamic State in Afghanistan. Air strikes by US fighter planes gave the Taliban terrain advantages to keep the IS enemy in check.
Now IS-K is bragging about the devastating terrorist attack at Kabul airport. The alleged assassin is Abdul Rahman al-Logari. He was able to overcome all security precautions and was standing “no more than five meters in front of the US soldiers” when he detonated his explosives belt.