In a meeting on Sunday with Afghan First Lady Rula Ghani, US Gen. John Campbell, Resolute Support Mission commander, said that Daesh was actively recruiting in the country, but was not yet operational in Afghanistan.
Associated Press quoted Campbell as saying: "It is absolutely a concern." He said the group was using a sophisticated social media campaign to attract Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan who were disgruntled at the lack of progress they were making in overthrowing the Kabul government.
He said Daesh's presence in Afghanistan has grown considerably in the past six months.
"We don't want it to continue to grow, so the more we find out about it... they can tamp this down before it gets to a level that you can see in Syria and Iraq. And again I think the fundamental difference here - Afghans have told me that this will not happen - there is a different ideology of war you see in Syria and Iraq. In fact Taliban and Daesh, there are reports of them fighting each other," he said.
At the meeting he also said that most of the Taliban insurgents have become disillusioned with Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader.
"There is many Taliban that have become disenfranchised with Mullah Omar, where they are going, they see this is as an opportunity to maybe gain more resources and so they've pledged allegiance to Daesh," he said.
His comments come after Taliban insurgents drastically increased the number of attacks across the country – particularly after launching their annual spring offensive in April. The big difference however is that it is the first fighting season that the Afghan security forces are going it alone after the pullback of US troops at the end of last year.
Campbell's comments come after a growing number of MPs in recent weeks warned of a developing threat by Daesh in the country.
"The presence of Daesh is a very big concern. Right now Daesh is in most parts of the country like Badakhshan and holding training especially in placing of roadside mines," Senator Gulalai Akbari said.
Daoud Kalakani, MP said meanwhile that "the Daesh threat is concerning and government should have a serious plan (to deal with them even though) government has said that there is no Daesh in Afghanistan, but now Daesh have activities in here".
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/3651
Ghani Removed From UN Heads of State List 
