Pentagon claims ‘many terrorist groups in Afghanistan’

The Pentagon said this week that despite claims by the Islamic Emirate of Daesh having been eliminated in Afghanistan, other terrorist groups are active in the country.

Major General Pat Ryder said at a press briefing on Tuesday that “currently there are many terrorist groups in Afghanistan.”

“We are laser-focused on defending our citizens from terrorist threats that could emanate from Central Asia or anywhere else around the globe.

“We know that we can’t turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as ISIS-K (Daesh) and that we must keep a relentless focus on counterterrorism, counterterrorism and we’re doing that,” he said.

We’re working closely with the intelligence community, as well as to deepen our cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving threats, he said.

Asked what the difference was between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) and Daesh, Ryder said “the Taliban (IEA) currently is the government in Afghanistan, and I’ll use that term loosely. And so as the so-called ruling entity in there, clearly there is a difference between that ISIS-K, but there are many other terror groups that that are resident right now in Afghanistan.”

He added that the US continues to “keep an eye on that region”.

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, our focus continues to be, broadly speaking, on working with allies and partners throughout the world and to include Central Asia, as I highlighted, on Promoting Regional Security and stability and safeguarding US national security interests to include the counterterrorism efforts and nonproliferation.”

Ryder’s claims come on the heels of a statement by Afghanistan’s ministry of interior that Daesh no longer exists in the country.

In their yearly report, delivered on Tuesday, the ministry’s spokesman Abdul Maten Qani said: “We can announce to everyone that Daesh has been destroyed in Afghanistan and has no physical or pastoral activities.”

Pakistan has also claimed that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is provided sanctuary in Afghanistan. However, the IEA has repeatedly denied these allegations and continues to state it will not allow any militant group to use Afghanistan to plan or carry out attacks on another country.