Since the US-Taliban peace deal was signed, members of the Afghanistan government have made allegations of Taliban misdeeds with an eye toward threatening the process toward peace. Afghan officials seem aware that they can’t afford to avoid peace if the US is still supportive.
So those officials are always trying new allegations to see which stick with the US. The newest claims are that the Taliban has ties with ISIS, which lacks any solid evidence, and also flies in the face of open Taliban fighting against ISIS.
Since the US deal conditions the Taliban to have no ISIS or al-Qaeda ties, this would be a valuable way to oppose the deal, if true. US officials have similarly rejected recent claims that the Taliban retain some ties to al-Qaeda.
The allegations are built both on them being convenient if true, and on the reality that 19 years of US war has seen the Taliban and al-Qaeda fighting side by side off and on, and some personal ties are almost certain to remain after all of that. So far, however, the US does not seem to be willing to risk the peace over flimsy allegations.
“So far, however, the US does not seem to be willing to risk the peace over flimsy allegations.”
Which means we’re actually leaving or we’re playing the waiting game until November passes. Otherwise we’d be doing airstrikes right now regardless how “flimsy” the allegations were.