TASHKENT, November 7. /TASS/. The Taliban (banned in Russia), which declared uncompromising struggle against terrorism, cannot cope with the growing influence of the Islamic State’s branch Wilayat Khorasan (banned in Russia), the head of the CIS Anti-Terrorist Center said.
"Afghanistan continues to arouse particular concern. The Taliban, which declared uncompromising fight against terrorism, is still unable to cope with the growing influence and capabilities of the Khorasan branch of the IS. Its strength, according to the UN, has grown to 6,000 militants," Yevgeny Sysoyev said. "The ethnic and confessional contradictions that have turned from bad to worse against the backdrop of the Pashtunization of the political elite, the continuing growth of cross-border crime and the increased area of opium poppy plantations do not allow to say terrorism is declining," Sysoyev told the SCO conference Trust, Co-operation and Professionalism as a Guarantee of a Secure Future afoot in Tashkent.
"All this poses a direct threat to the Central Asian states. Against the background of March statements by the movement's leader about exporting Taliban sharia outside Afghanistan this threat looks real," Sysoyev said.
In early August 2021, Taliban detachments stepped up their offensive against Afghan government forces. On August 15, they took the capital Kabul and the next day announced that the war was over. On August 31, the last US soldiers left Kabul airport, thus ending the US army's nearly 20-year presence in Afghanistan. In early September 2021, the Taliban formed an interim government under Muhammad Hassan Akhund, who was foreign minister during the Taliban's first rise to power in Afghanistan.