Wall Street Journal: Former Afghan Officials Join ISIS After Being Abandoned by the US
Wall Street Journal details how some former members of Afghan intelligence services and special military units have joined the ranks of ISIS.
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Wall Street Journal: Hundreds of thousands of intelligence officers and soldiers in Afghanistan are unemployed.
US newspaper The Wall Street Journal reported that in an effort to resist the current Taliban rule, some former Afghan intelligence service members who have been abandoned by the US government have joined ISIS.
The journal details that the number of members remains minimal; however, they are rising. The publication highlights that the danger in the joining members is that their expertise encompasses enhanced capabilities of intelligence and war tactics, enabling ISIS to compete with the Taliban.
ISIS reportedly provides large sums of money for their new recruits - an enticing offer to many hundred thousands of unemployed former Afghans after US withdrawal.
A senior Western official expressed, regarding what is happening in Afghanistan that “It’s exactly how it started in Iraq — with disenchanted Saddam Hussein generals.”
The Wall Street Journal formerly quoted a senior official in the Pentagon, telling US lawmakers that the ISIS-K in Afghanistan may be able to launch attacks on the West and its allies within six months and that al-Qaeda can do the same within two years.
According to United Nations estimates, there are about 2,000 ISIS fighters operating in Afghanistan and an estimated 70,000 Taliban fighters.
