US: ISIS is rebuilding its forces in Afghanistan

The US Joint Chiefs of Staff said ISIL was rebuilding its forces in Afghanistan.

“Based on the latest information, we are seeing signs that ISIL and similar groups are trying to rebuild their forces in Afghanistan,” said Mark Millie, chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at a Senate budget hearing. “But so far they have not been able to do so.”

He emphasized that the US intelligence forecast provided that terrorists in Afghanistan could not pose a threat to other countries until 2023 at the latest, adding that ISIL and other terrorist groups based in Afghanistan could invade US territory in the future.

Dozens of civilians have been killed and wounded in recent attacks in several Afghan provinces on Shiite mosques and training centers claimed by ISIS.

But the Taliban Interior Ministry has recently stressed that the ISIS group in Afghanistan is not a serious threat and that they are trying to destroy the group’s hideouts.