Russian President's Envoy for Afghanistan Says There is Evidence US Secretly Sponsoring Daesh

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - There is evidence that the United States is trying to establish ties with the opponents of the current authorities of Afghanistan and secretly sponsor the Daesh* terrorist organization, Russian special presidential envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said on Friday.

"Yes, there is such data, they [the US authorities] do it not for good, but for harm, because they really want to avenge their shameful military-political defeat in Afghanistan and, in retaliation, they 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 told Russian broadcaster.

Since the Taliban return to power in Afghanistan in mid-August, Islamists have allegedly carried out several terrorist attacks across the country, including at the Kabul airport in August in which more than 180 people were killed, and on a Shiite mosque in Kunduz in October that resulted in more than 150 people being killed.

The United States withdrew from Afghanistan in the specified time-frame, but did so haphazardly, causing chaos at the Kabul airport, with Afghans desperately attempting to make it out of the country, and 13 American soldiers killed in a bombing perpetrated by a local branch of the Daesh terror group.

The Taliban government has not been recognized by the international community, although some countries, including Russia and China, are holding diplomatic meetings with representatives of the movement to rectify the humanitarian situation in the country.

According to the UN, Daesh attacks have resulted in around 700 deaths since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan.

*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia