Taliban Capture Four ISIS-K Members in Kabul Raid

The Taliban has launched several raids on ISIS-K since the US left

On Wednesday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said four ISIS-K members were captured in a Taliban raid in the Paghman district, an area to the west of Kabul.

Since the US withdrawal, ISIS-K has claimed several attacks against the Taliban and civilians in Kabul and Jalalabad, the capital of the Nangarhar province, where ISIS-K is mainly based. According to Reuters, earlier on Wednesday, ISIS said on one of its Telegram channels that the group captured and beheaded a Taliban fighter in Jalalabad.

On Sunday, a bombing outside of a mosque in Kabul killed at least five civilians. In response, the Taliban raided an ISIS-K hideout in the northern Kabul neighborhood of Khair Khana. Mujahid said Monday that the Taliban killed every ISIS fighter they found at the hideout but did not give a specific number.

US military officials have been hinting at further intervention in Afghanistan under the guise of fighting ISIS-K. The US says it maintains so-called “over the horizon capabilities” to launch surveillance flights and airstrikes in the country.

The Taliban have said they don’t need any foreign help to fight ISIS-K and have accused the US of violating Afghan airspace with drones. The last known US airstrike in Afghanistan took place on August 29th. The US initially claimed the strike targeted ISIS-K, but it was quickly revealed that it only killed 10 civilians, including seven children.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.