ISIS-K, also known as the Islamic State of Khorasan, was created seven years ago by disaffected Taliban fighters and has been growing rapidly ever since. Though ISIS-K is a terrorist group, it regards the U.S., the Taliban, and Al Qaeda as its enemies and competitors. 

Khorasan is the historical term for the region of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and surrounding countries. The goal of the Aug. 26 attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport was not solely to attack the U.S. but also to embarrass the Taliban. Attacking on what is now Taliban controlled Afghanistan gives the perception that the Taliban does not have full control of their environment. 

Both ISIS-K and the Taliban are competitive organizations trying to appeal to the same recruits for their goals. Previously, when Al Qaeda was under Taliban protection, ISIS-K and Al Qaeda were allies, all three in favor of opposing democracy and rights for women. 

Unlike the Taliban, who now have fully focused their organization on Afghanistan, ISIS-K is working towards going beyond country borders. They have been launching high-profile attacks in order to reassert and revive themselves in countries like Afghanistan. 

The reason ISIS-K considers the Taliban as its enemy is due to the different tolerance levels they each have to other international governments. The Taliban wants to show that it has become more moderate compared to their rule back in 1999; whereas, ISIS-K is adamant on enforcing strict laws globally. 

In past years, ISIS-K has conducted many deadly attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan, mainly focusing on one of Afghanistan’s largest religious minority groups, the Shi’ite Hazara. Within these attacks, one of them targeted a maternity ward in Kabul, killing 24 people.

Though they are relatively small, the Khorasan subunit is still a very big threat to the Taliban due to its ruthlessness and capability to easily launch deadly attacks. On May 8, they performed an attack on a school, killing 68 people and wounding more than 165 people. The school was meant for girls of the Shi’ite Hazara minority group. 

With ISIS-K aiming to attack and embarrass both the U.S. and the Taliban, the Taliban and the U.S. have “unofficially” worked together. Before the U.S.-backed Afghan government fell, the two had cooperated to attack ISIS-K. 

Now that the Taliban has fully taken over and ISIS-K is continuing to intervene, the U.S. has been put in a position to consider an alliance with the Taliban. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the possibility of an alliance is being considered. 

During the U.S. military’s evacuation flights from Taliban-ran Kabul, the two cooperated on a small number of issues, but no one can predict the future of this alliance, especially regarding the issue of ISIS-K.

With Afghans attempting to flee Afghanistan, ISIS-K committing to the rivalry against the Taliban, and President Biden swearing to destroy the terrorists responsible for the Aug. 26 attack, it seems that the political state of Afghanistan will not be solved very soon.