Status: 08/26/2021 10:48 p.m.
The attack could also – but not only – have been a show of force by IS against the Taliban, says terrorism expert Stockhammer in an interview with tagesschau24. Now the region could face a power struggle.
After the attack in Kabul, terrorism expert Nicolas Stockhammer also assumes that the so-called “Islamic State” is responsible for it. “From what has been seen so far, this clearly bears the signature of IS,” he said in an interview tagesschau24. In his opinion, the terrorist militia could have had several motivations for the attack:
On the one hand, it was possible to hinder the actual evacuation, on the other hand, uncertainty was spread and, above all, power was demonstrated. This is about the jihadist interpretive sovereignty over Al Qaeda, i.e. also the Taliban.
“That clearly bears the signature of IS,” said Nicolas Stockhammer, terrorism expert, on the masterminds behind the attacks in Kabul
tagesschau24 9:00 p.m., August 26, 2021
“Assume that IS will consolidate”
In principle, it cannot be ruled out that the country is now threatened with a bloody power struggle between the Islamists. So far, IS has been weakened in the region, but it now has a certain position thanks to tactical maneuvers and mergers with other organizations. “I assume that IS will also consolidate.” The great security-political vacuum in Afghanistan could now lead to the fact that there is a “refuge for terrorist organizations in the region”.
Possible future terrorist attacks against the West cannot be ruled out either. In the past it has been seen that, from the Islamists’ point of view, the foundations for such an attack were always better if they had an operational basis and did not have to act in hiding. “If they have found a loophole, so to speak, a hiding place in Afghanistan, and can operate security from there, that is of course a massive tactical advantage,” said Stockhammer.