Afghanistan: Taliban arrest four Daesh members as extremist threat grows

Kabul - Arrests come as leadership intensifies crackdowns on the terrorist affiliate

The group's chief spokesman said Wednesday that the Taliban arrested four Daesh members and seized their documents and weapons north of the Afghan capital.

Zabihullah Mujahid said the operation was carried out Tuesday night by special unit forces in the Pashai area of Pagham district in Kabul province. He provided no additional details.

The arrests came as the Taliban leadership, which assumed control of the country after seizing the capital on August 15, grapples with a growing security threat from the group known as Daesh Khorasan, a Daesh affiliate. The extremist group has ramped up attacks since the Taliban consolidated power following the US exit. It has claimed responsibility for attacks including two deadly bombings in the capital in the last month.

Daesh claimed it targeted Tuesday night a vehicle carrying Taliban members with an explosive device in District 1 in Kunar province, northeast of the capital, killing and wounding those onboard. It said a Taliban reinforcement patrol rushed to the area to help but Daesh fighters clashed with them, killing and wounding “many.”

Daesh re-emerged in Afghanistan in 2020 after being weakened by a heavy US bombing campaign directed against them in the eastern part of the country in 2019. The group claimed responsibility for Sunday’s bombing at Kabul’s Eid Gah Mosque which killed five civilians. It has also claimed responsibility for the horrific bombing on August 26 that killed more than 169 Afghans and 13 US military personnel outside the Kabul airport.

Jalalabad has emerged as a flashpoint in the rivalry between the Taliban and Daesh, with numerous attacks taking place there since the takeover.