Taliban peace deal will help Afghanistan in fighting IS, says Afghan security official
- Hamdullah Mohib said that although IS had been dislodged from the territory it controlled, the group maintained a ‘network of terror’
- The US agreed to withdraw foreign forces in exchange for security guarantees and a Taliban pledge to hold talks with Kabul
A successful peace process with the Taliban will allow the government to focus its resources on countering the Islamic State group and its attacks on soft targets, Afghanistan’s national security adviser said Saturday.
Afghanistan is grappling with a surge in violence that has worsened despite landmark peace talks with the Taliban which began in September in Qatar.
The Islamic State jihadist group has claimed a series of assaults on vulnerable targets, including a November attack on Kabul university which saw gunmen detonate grenades and spray automatic fire across the campus.
Hamdullah Mohib, Afghanistan’s national security adviser, said that although IS had been dislodged from the territory it controlled and its funding sources disrupted, the group maintained a “network of terror”.
“Of course those attacks by themselves are quite damaging, they bring a lot of fear to our people, and we are working very hard to prevent them from attacking our cities,” he said.