KABUL: A little more than a month after toppling the Western-backed government in Kabul, Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers are facing internal enemies who have adopted many of the tactics of urban warfare that marked their own successful guerrilla campaign.
A deadly attack on Kabul airport last month and a series of bomb blasts in the eastern city of Jalalabad, all claimed by the local affiliate of Daesh, have underlined the threat to stability from violent militant groups who remain unreconciled to the Taliban.
While the movement's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has downplayed the threat, saying this week that Daesh had no effective presence in Afghanistan, commanders on the ground do not dismiss the threat so lightly.
Two members of the movement's intelligence services who investigated some of the recent attacks in Jalalabad said the tactics showed the group remained a danger, even if it did not have enough fighters and resources to seize territory.
Using sticky bombs - magnetic bombs usually stuck to the underside of cars - the attacks targeted Taliban members in exactly the same way the Taliban itself used to hit officials and civil society figures to destabilize the former government.
"We are worried about these sticky bombs that once we used to apply to target our enemies in Kabul. We are concerned about our leadership as they could target them if not controlled them successfully," said one of the Taliban intelligence officials.
Daesh in Khorasan, the name taken from the ancient name for the region that includes modern Afghanistan, first emerged in late 2014 but has declined from its peak around 2018 following a series of heavy losses inflicted by both the Taliban and U.S. forces.
Taliban security forces in Nangarhar said they had killed three members of the movement on Wednesday night and the intelligence officials said the movement still retains the ability to cause trouble through small-scale attacks.
"Their main structure is broken and they are now divided in small groups to carry out attacks," one of them said.
FUNDING DRIED UP
The Taliban have said repeatedly that they will not allow Afghanistan to be used as a base for attacks on other countries. But some Western analysts believe the return of the Islamist group to power has invigorated groups like Daesh-K and al Qaeda, which had made Afghanistan their base when the Taliban last ruled the country.
"In Afghanistan, the return of Taliban is a huge victory for the Islamists," said Rohan Gunaratna, professor of security studies at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. "They have celebrated the return of the Taliban, so I think that Afghanistan is the new theatre."
Daesh-K is believed to draw many of its fighters from the ranks of the Taliban or the Pakistani version of the Taliban, known as the TTP, but much of the way it operates remains little understood.
It has fought the Taliban over smuggling routes and other economic interests but it also supports a global Caliphate under Islamic law, in contrast with the Taliban which insists it has no interest in anywhere outside Afghanistan.
Most analysts, as well as the United Nations, peg Daesh-K's strength at under 2,000 fighters, compared to as many as 100,000 at the Taliban's disposal. The ranks of Daesh-K were swollen with prisoners released when Afghanistan's jails were opened by the Taliban as they swept through the country.
According to a June report by the UN security council, Daesh-K's financial and logistic ties to its parent organisation in Syria have weakened, though it does retain some channels of communication.
"Funding support to the Khorasan branch from the core is believed to have effectively dried up," the report said.
However, the report said signs of divisions within the Taliban, which have already started to emerge, could encourage more fighters to defect as the wartime insurgency tries to reshape itself into a peacetime administration.
"It remains active and dangerous, particularly if it is able, by positioning itself as the sole pure rejectionist group in Afghanistan, to recruit disaffected Taliban and other militants to swell its ranks," the UN said.
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Daesh uses Taliban's own tactics to attack Afghanistan's new rulers
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Daesh uses Taliban's own tactics to attack Afghanistan's new rulers
- Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has downplayed the threat from Daesh
- Commanders on the ground do not dismiss the threat so lightly
Columbia student detained by ICE is abruptly released after Mamdani meets with Trump
NEW YORK: Federal immigration authorities arrested a Columbia University student early Thursday, triggering protests on campus along with allegations that agents had entered the university-owned residence under false pretenses.
Just hours after detaining student Ellie Aghayeva, though, the federal government abruptly reversed course, permitting her to walk free after an apparent intervention by President Donald Trump.
In a social media post Thursday afternoon, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he expressed concerns about the arrest during an unrelated meeting with Trump, who then agreed to release her immediately.
“I am safe and okay,” Aghayeva wrote on Instagram, minutes after Mamdani’s post, adding she was in “complete shock” from the experience.
The head-spinning series of events marked the latest development to emerge from the Republican president’s unlikely relationship with a democratic socialist mayor he once threatened to have deported.
On Thursday, while pitching Trump on a massive housing project, Mamdani also called on the president to drop cases against several other current and former students facing deportation for their roles in protests against Israel.
Aghayeva, a senior from Azerbaijan studying neuroscience and politics, hasn’t been publicly linked to any of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that roiled Columbia’s campus. A self-described content creator, she has amassed a large social media following by sharing day-in-the-life videos and tips for navigating college as an immigrant.
Early Thursday, federal agents gained entry to her apartment by claiming they were searching for a missing person, according to a petition from her lawyers and a statement released by Columbia. She quickly dashed off a message to her more than 100,000 followers on Instagram: “DHS illegally arrested me. Please help.” A photo accompanying the post appeared to show her legs in the backseat of a vehicle.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Aghayeva’s student visa had been terminated in 2016 for failing to attend classes. Inquiries to Columbia about her visa status and how long she had been enrolled in the university were not returned.
In their petition, attorneys for Aghayeva said she had entered the country on a visa in or around 2016. They declined to provide additional comment, including details about her immigration status.
A spokesperson for DHS, Tricia McLaughlin, denied allegations levied by some state officials that agents had gained entry to her apartment by posing as New York City police officers. She didn’t respond to questions about whether they had claimed to be seeking a missing person.
The use of disguises or other misrepresentations by immigration authorities has drawn attention in recent months, after federal agents were seen posing as utility workers and other service employees in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
The practice is legal, in most cases. But immigration attorneys say such ruses are becoming increasingly common, adding to concerns about the Trump administration’s dramatic reshaping of immigration enforcement tactics nationwide.
In recent weeks, Trump has once again intensified his attacks on several universities, including Harvard and UCLA. The arrest would seem to mark the first federal enforcement action against at Columbia since the university agreed to pay more than $220 million to the administration over the summer.
“It’s a horrifying sign that the roving eye of the administration is turning back to Columbia,” said Michael Thaddeus, a mathematics professor at Columbia and vice president of the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which has sued Trump. “The idea that secret police would abduct and imprison students in our midst is something we’d expect from an authoritarian regime.”
Many students and faculty called on Columbia to increase protections for international students following the arrest last March of Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist, whose deportation case remains ongoing.
In an email to the Columbia community Thursday, acting president Claire Shipman said that residential staff had been reminded not to allow federal law enforcement into university buildings without a subpoena or warrant.
“If you encounter or observe DHS/ICE agents conducting enforcement activities on or near campus, immediately contact Public Safety,” Shipman wrote. “Do not allow them to enter non-public areas or accept service of a warrant or subpoena.”
Just hours after detaining student Ellie Aghayeva, though, the federal government abruptly reversed course, permitting her to walk free after an apparent intervention by President Donald Trump.
In a social media post Thursday afternoon, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he expressed concerns about the arrest during an unrelated meeting with Trump, who then agreed to release her immediately.
“I am safe and okay,” Aghayeva wrote on Instagram, minutes after Mamdani’s post, adding she was in “complete shock” from the experience.
The head-spinning series of events marked the latest development to emerge from the Republican president’s unlikely relationship with a democratic socialist mayor he once threatened to have deported.
On Thursday, while pitching Trump on a massive housing project, Mamdani also called on the president to drop cases against several other current and former students facing deportation for their roles in protests against Israel.
Aghayeva, a senior from Azerbaijan studying neuroscience and politics, hasn’t been publicly linked to any of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that roiled Columbia’s campus. A self-described content creator, she has amassed a large social media following by sharing day-in-the-life videos and tips for navigating college as an immigrant.
Early Thursday, federal agents gained entry to her apartment by claiming they were searching for a missing person, according to a petition from her lawyers and a statement released by Columbia. She quickly dashed off a message to her more than 100,000 followers on Instagram: “DHS illegally arrested me. Please help.” A photo accompanying the post appeared to show her legs in the backseat of a vehicle.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Aghayeva’s student visa had been terminated in 2016 for failing to attend classes. Inquiries to Columbia about her visa status and how long she had been enrolled in the university were not returned.
In their petition, attorneys for Aghayeva said she had entered the country on a visa in or around 2016. They declined to provide additional comment, including details about her immigration status.
A spokesperson for DHS, Tricia McLaughlin, denied allegations levied by some state officials that agents had gained entry to her apartment by posing as New York City police officers. She didn’t respond to questions about whether they had claimed to be seeking a missing person.
The use of disguises or other misrepresentations by immigration authorities has drawn attention in recent months, after federal agents were seen posing as utility workers and other service employees in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
The practice is legal, in most cases. But immigration attorneys say such ruses are becoming increasingly common, adding to concerns about the Trump administration’s dramatic reshaping of immigration enforcement tactics nationwide.
In recent weeks, Trump has once again intensified his attacks on several universities, including Harvard and UCLA. The arrest would seem to mark the first federal enforcement action against at Columbia since the university agreed to pay more than $220 million to the administration over the summer.
“It’s a horrifying sign that the roving eye of the administration is turning back to Columbia,” said Michael Thaddeus, a mathematics professor at Columbia and vice president of the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which has sued Trump. “The idea that secret police would abduct and imprison students in our midst is something we’d expect from an authoritarian regime.”
Many students and faculty called on Columbia to increase protections for international students following the arrest last March of Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist, whose deportation case remains ongoing.
In an email to the Columbia community Thursday, acting president Claire Shipman said that residential staff had been reminded not to allow federal law enforcement into university buildings without a subpoena or warrant.
“If you encounter or observe DHS/ICE agents conducting enforcement activities on or near campus, immediately contact Public Safety,” Shipman wrote. “Do not allow them to enter non-public areas or accept service of a warrant or subpoena.”
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