Group 'More Extreme' Than the Taliban Struck in Kabul

The group claiming responsibility for Thursday's bombings near Kabul's airport, which killed 13 US service members and at least 95 Afghans, is the Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K. This is the affiliate of the Islamic State in Afghanistan and Pakistan. What we know:

• How it formed: ISIS-K formed in late 2014. ISIS representatives sent to Pakistan and Afghanistan "were essentially able to co-opt some disaffected Pakistani Taliban and a few Afghan Taliban [members] to join their cause," Seth Jones of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) tells NPR. Some more extremist Taliban members have also defected in recent years amid Taliban attempts to negotiate with the US, per the AP.

• A Taliban enemy: Khorasan refers to a historic area that included parts of modern day Iran, Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, according to CSIS. Islamic State Khorasan is not to be confused with the Khorasan Group, an al-Qaeda cell operating in Syria. Indeed, ISIS-K is a rival of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, per NPR. Thursday’s bombings were meant to show the Taliban doesn’t have control of the area, experts tell NBC News.
• Ideology: Like the Taliban, ISIS-K governs under a strict interpretation of Islamic law and is known to carry out public executions. But "IS accused the Taliban of drawing its legitimacy from a narrow ethnic and nationalistic base, rather than a universal Islamic creed," according to Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation. The group is considered "more extreme" than the Taliban, per NBC.

• Attacks: CSIS tallies almost 100 attacks by ISIS-K in Afghanistan and Pakistan as of 2018. Militants often strike using suicide bombs, though shootings are common, too. The group was responsible for the storming of Kabul's largest military hospital in March 2017, leaving 49 dead and 90 wounded, according to the Stanford center.
• 'Nearly eradicated': The group was "nearly eradicated" from its main base in eastern Afghanistan in late 2019, per a report from the Congressional Research Service. It's now thought to have about 2,000 fighters "in the east but also in northern Afghanistan." The group claimed responsibility for a bombing at a girls’ school in Kabul this May.

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• Jihad: "The threat from ISIS is extremely real," Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said in a Pentagon briefing following Thursday's attacks. A Defense Department official told the AP that the Trump administration had sought to negotiate with the Taliban in the hope that the US would have a regional ally in the fight against ISIS-K, which has "embraced the Islamic State's call for a worldwide jihad against non-Muslims."
• What's next: There are fears of more attacks in the coming days, as well as fears that, with the US withdrawal, Afghanistan will again become a base for extremists looking to target the West. But administration officials argue the US retains the capacity to manage the threats with its military and intelligence assets in Gulf states and other areas, per the AP.

(More Islamic State stories.)