VOA: Russia Says About 10,000 IS Militants Now in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD — Russia has estimated there are about 10,000 Islamic State militants in Afghanistan and their number is growing because fighters fleeing Syria and Iraq also are heading to the war-ravaged country.
Russian media on Saturday quoted Zamir Kabulov, Russia's special presidential envoy for Afghanistan, as saying Moscow is particularly worried about an increasing foothold of Daesh militants in northern Afghan provinces bordering Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for IS.
"Russia was among the first to be sounding the alarms in connection with the emergence of Daesh in Afghanistan.... Daesh has significantly increased its power in the country recently. According to our estimates, the number of militants exceeds 10,000 and continues to grow, particularly due to new fighters arriving from Syria and Iraq," Kabulov told the Sputnik news agency.
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Update: ISIS has over 10,000 fighters in Afghanistan, more arriving from Syria & Iraq – Moscow (RT).
WNU Editor: I am not sure about this 10,000 number. But if true .... this is not only a worry for the U.S. coalition and the Afghan government, but it is also a threat to the Taliban and their goal of having all anti-government militant groups following their banner and leadership.
1 comment:
The Taliban did not want to negotiate the last 2 or 3 years. Do they now regret it?
They could have negotiated with the Afghan government, when Obama was in office to boot.
It reminds me of the 1980s and part way into the 1990s and the drug scourge in America. The Latin American countries were unconcerned. They were of the mind that if there were no demand there would be no trade, it was bringing in money to their countries and it was not hurting them. Now, Columbia and other countries have a large addict problem.
Likewise elements of Pakistanis society protected, enabled, or nurtured the Taliban. They could control them. They put up with it. Now, not only is there a a Afghanistan Taliban, but there is a Pakistan Taliban as well and they cause trouble in Pakistan. Now ISIS has arrived. I wonder if the Pakistani factions still want to play with fire?
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