Pashtu-Language Article On Pro-Afghan Taliban Website: 'If Any Attack Is Carried Out By [ISIS] In Afghanistan Or Any Country In The Region, Its Roots Should Be Found In The Areas Under The Control Of The American Side'

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On May 17, 2024, a pro-Afghan Taliban media outlet published a Pashtu-language article saying that terror attacks carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, and elsewhere are planned by terrorists based outside Afghanistan and in areas under American control. The article, titled "Why Does America Conduct Systematic Propaganda For ISIS?" was published by the website of Hindukush, a media outlet that emerged over the past year and is believed to be controlled by the Afghan Taliban's intelligence department. The article accuses the U.S. and its allies of creating ISIS in 2014 in Iraq and Syria to discredit other movements of the Islamic world. It says that the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP) has been defeated in Afghanistan and any terror attacks by this group are planned and executed from abroad, mainly Tajikistan and Pakistan.

Following are excerpts from the article:

"With The Support Of The United States, This Group Committed Great Atrocities In The Beginning; They Put Bombs On People And Tribal Leaders, Beheaded Some Of Them, And Attacked Crowded Places In Cities"

"The headlines of many foreign media outlets are circulating based on America's propaganda for the seditious Islamic State group. Recently, the U.S. Institute for Peace made a false claim and said that the Khurasan branch of ISIS is expanding rapidly in Afghanistan. The mentioned source warned that if this group is not stopped, it may threaten the security of the world.

"This is [part of] a series of systematic propaganda by the American agencies for the seditious ISIS group, but the question is: Why has America worked on this matter and what is the real truth? In 2014, the United States and its allies, by creating a notorious and anti-Islamic group called ISIS in Iraq and Syria on the one hand, started trying to protect their interests and to discredit the movements that have arisen in the Islamic world. They began from Iraq and Syria; when their interests were secured there, they began to try to spread the roots of this infamous group.

"Afghanistan, which was under American occupation for two decades, started attempting to implement this project, but soon this project and plan were revealed and, due to the strong opposition of the Afghans and the seriousness of the Islamic Emirate, their project failed.

"With the support of the United States, this group committed great atrocities in the beginning; they put people and tribal leaders on bombs, beheaded some of them, and attacked crowded places in cities. They targeted hospitals, schools, sports clubs, and funerals; but despite all the horrors and crimes, this infamous American-made group failed, and its roots withered. By the end of the American occupation in Afghanistan, the carpet of this group was also removed.

"America, with the help of regional intelligence networks and other proxy groups, tried to carry out bloody attacks in Afghanistan, to frighten the people, to challenge the rule of the Islamic Emirate, and also to show the international community that Afghanistan is a threat to them; and despite using all their resources, the United States and its allies failed. Finally, they were forced to evict the remnants of this evil group from Afghanistan and settle them in some areas of Pakistan as well as the Tribal Areas."

ISIS "Is Recruiting And Absorbing Itself Outside The Borders Of Afghanistan, Where It Has Hideouts, Training Centers, And They Attack Other Targets From Those Places"

"The majority of [ISIS] members are citizens of Central Asian countries; most of them are residents of Tajikistan. Recently, the evidence of these attacks in Iran and Moscow showed that no Afghan citizens participated in such attacks, nor did they have any connection with Afghanistan. But on the contrary, all the members were foreigners, and they also organized these attacks [in Iran and Moscow] from abroad.

"But despite all these evidence and records, America shamelessly tried to link these attacks to Afghanistan and Afghans. However, as they say that the sun cannot be hidden by two fingers, this fact is as clear as the sun. And all of America's capabilities, propaganda apparatuses, and intelligence networks could not change this fact.

"With the fact that the seditious group called ISIS has been severely suppressed in Afghanistan, its roots have dried up and been destroyed. Now, it is recruiting and absorbing itself outside the borders of Afghanistan, where it has hideouts, training centers, and they attack other targets from those places. Despite all these facts, America and [its] intelligence agencies in the region continue trying to link this embarrassing and seditious phenomenon to Afghanistan.

"But in spite of all these propaganda and accusations, the truth is known to everyone that the current government of Afghanistan [Afghan Taliban] has the most serious policy against the ISIS seditious group, suppressing them everywhere and not allowing them to raise their heads anywhere. In addition, common Afghans also dislike this notorious and infamous group and strongly oppose it.

"No matter how much America propagates this seditious group for its own interests and to defame the current system of Afghanistan, the result is failure and scandal. The world will not accept this and will not change the existing realities in Afghanistan. The truth is that ISIS has been severely suppressed in Afghanistan, its roots have dried up and it has been removed. Now, if any attack is carried out by this group in Afghanistan or any country in the region, its roots should be found in the areas under the control of the American side."

Source: May 17, 2024.