The Taliban are demonstrating to crack down on ISIS, parading an alleged terrorist after he was captured and bandaged, according to recently released photos.
Afghanistan’s new leadership has repeatedly promised to crack down on rival Islamic fundamentalist group guilty of the Kabul airport suicide bombing that killed more than 180 people, including 28 Taliban members and 13 members of the U.S. service.
The photos showed a Taliban Special Forces officer escorting an alleged ISIS member in one of the group’s armored vehicles in Kabul.
According to the photo published on Sunday by Reuters, the suspect had his eyes bandaged with material that completely covered his face, with his arms closed at the sides as if handcuffed.
Other images showed other Special Forces troops brandishing weapons and carrying military equipment, much of which the U.S. had donated to Afghan troops to help fight the Taliban insurgency before the group took it when Western forces withdrew. .
No other details about the detainee were immediately obtained, including whether he was thought to be linked to the airport attack by ISIS-K, an affiliate of the terrorist group in Khorasan.
While U.S. officials fear that the Taliban’s new Afghan government will once again turn the nation into a breeding ground for terrorists, the two Islamic groups are brutal rivals.
ISIS-K and the Taliban “are deadly enemies, because ISIS-K represents a competitor,” Douglas London, the region’s former CIA counterterrorism chief, told USA Today recently.
“They represent a competitor of resources, materials and energy, even though they are relatively small,” he said of the group.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged Thursday that “there are still active threats from ISIS-K.”