US to ‘Take Time’ to Assess Islamic State Expansion in Afghanistan

The United States is not yet prepared to assess the future outcome of the Islamic State’s expansion into Afghanistan, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central Asia Daniel Rosenblum said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In recent weeks, international media have reported on the expansion of the Islamic State into Afghanistan, where the group is in open conflict with the Taliban.

“ISIL’s [Islamic State’s] presence [in Afghanistan] is still a relatively new phenomenon and it will take time to evaluate its long-term prospects,” Rosenblum said in testimony to the US Congressional Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Rosenblum explained that some Taliban groups “have rebranded themselves” as Islamic State fighters in order to attract funding and recruits.

In February 2015, the US Department of Defense openly acknowledged the spread of Islamic State group to Afghanistan, where the United States has been involved in combatting terrorism for the past 14 years.

Iraqi Sunni volunteers from the Anbar province, who joined Iraq's Popular Mobilisation force as part of government efforts to make the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group a cross-sectarian drive, take part in their first training session at a training base in Amriyat al-Fallujah, on May 8, 2015

© AFP 2023 / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE