Russian envoy for Afghanistan claims US 'secretly' sponsors ISIS-K in Afghanistan

The United States "secretly sponsored" the Islamic State Khorasan Province [ISIS-K] terrorist organization in Afghanistan, Russian special presidential envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov claimed, according to the state-affiliated agency Tass. In wide-ranging claims, Kabulov said that the US military, during its deployment in Kabul, "established ties with the opponents of the then Afghanistan government."

ISIS-K has conducted a series of life-threatening attacks across Afghanistan since Kabul fell to the hardline Islamist regime of the Taliban post-US Army withdrawal in August 2021. On Jan.19, IS regional affiliate in Khorasan Province carried out a bomb blast in northeastern Badakhshan province that claimed the life of one Afghan police officer. ISIS-K terrorists claimed that they had hatched a plan to neutralize the police chief via an explosive-laden car parked on the road which was supposed to be driven by him.

ISIS-K also took the responsibility for a deadly bomb blast at Hamid Karzai International Airport last August during the military drawdown that killed 13 US service members and at least 170 Afghans. In October, the terror group carried out an attack on a Shiite mosque in Kunduz that killed more than 150 people. It also assumed responsibility for a coordinated attack on a Chinese-owned hotel in the Afghan capital, Kabul that killed two guests and left three assailants dead. 

US will 'do everything so that peace is not established': Russian official 

In a televised interview with the Russian state-affiliated agency on Jan. 19, Kabulov accused Washington of discreetly lending support to the terror operatives, asserting, "Yes, there is such data," hinting at the evidence. "They [the US authorities] do it not for good, but for harm," he told the Russian broadcaster, adding that they must have a hidden agenda. "They [the US] really want to avenge their shameful military-political defeat in Afghanistan," claimed a Russian official. 

"And, in retaliation, they [US] do everything so that peace is not established in this long-suffering land, but even worse is that, in addition to contacts with the armed opposition in Afghanistan, the Anglo-Saxons secretly sponsor the Daesh," Kabulov said. 

Last month, it was also reported that thousands of the US special forces trained former elite Afghan commandoes have been considering fighting as mercenaries in the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine, and other conflict-ridden territories. Many narrated their ordeal as they accused the United States Armed Forces of abandoning them after Kabul fell to the Taliban. According to the WhatsApp messages accessed by the RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, the ex-elite Afghan commandoes are already planning to join the Russian shadowy mercenaries group, PMC Wagner.