Taliban Intensifying 1990s Extremist Policies, Says US Envoy

Of these, seven ISIS members were arrested in Fars province and seven others in Tehran, Alborz and Khuzestan provinces, the ministry said.

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence said in a statement on Friday, “Fourteen elements directed by the American-Zionist group known as ISIS-K have been identified and arrested on the orders of judicial authorities."

According to a statement by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence, members of ISIS-K had entered Iran illegally in recent days with the aim of carrying out "terrorist operations”. It is not clear from which country these individuals entered Iran.

The ministry has not released any information about the identities of the arrested individuals.

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence also called on citizens and those involved in mosques, and religious centres to act with full vigilance as there is an upcoming Shia religious ceremony and to report suspicious movements to the security forces.

This comes as deadly ISIS-K attacks have also increased in Afghanistan and Pakistan's border areas. Earlier, ISIS-K claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack on a Taliban vehicle in Dara-e-Noor district of Nangarhar Province.

ISIS also claimed responsibility for two more attacks on Pakistani troops in the Khyber and Bajaur areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which are located near the Afghan border in the past week.

Previously, Shia religious scholars have repeatedly called on the Taliban to recognise the Shia sect as another official sect in Afghanistan.

The official recognition of the Ja'fari sect in the Taliban regime, the teaching of Ja'fari jurisprudence in universities and schools for Shiite students, and the meaningful participation of Shiites in government agencies are among the primary demands of the Shiite Ulema Council from the Taliban.

The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency reported on Friday, August 23, that the group's justice minister met with Dr Selim Argun, Vice-President of Turkiye’s Religious Affairs.

According to the report, the Taliban's justice minister called Afghanistan and Turkey two countries with religious commonalities.

The remarks come as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last year strongly criticised the Taliban's ban on girls' education, saying it was neither humane nor Islamic.

According to Bakhtar, the Turkish delegation during a meeting with the Taliban's justice minister stated that the country is ready to cooperate and present its experiences in the legal and judicial sectors.

Safaei, director of aliens and foreign immigrants of South Khorasan Governorate, said that Afghans are prohibited from staying in 10 other districts of the province.

In an interview with Mehr News Agency published on Thursday, he added, "There are more than 10,000 foreign nationals residing in South Khorasan."

According to him, most of the foreign citizens in South Khorasan are Afghans.
Safaei also reported that about 1,700 students and 600 foreign students are studying in South Khorasan.

Safaei added that buying and selling real estate to "unauthorised Afghans" is prohibited.

The official warned that "unauthorised Afghans" will not be given any kind of assistance and that they will be dealt with and deported from Iran as soon as they are identified.

Iranian officials have recently said that they are closing the country's borders to prevent the illegal entry of migrants, the movement of terrorists and drug traffickers.
About a week ago, Sirous Amanollahi, a commander of the Iranian army's ground forces, said that the closure of borders in Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan and Sistan and Baluchestan would be completed in three years.

The Taliban had earlier said that six students of a madrassa were killed in the attack, another student and four members of the group were wounded.

ISIS-affiliated Khilafa News Agency said in a statement on its Telegram channel that a bomb attack on a Taliban vehicle killed four members of the group and wounded four others.

Abdul Basir Zabuli, a spokesman for the Taliban's police command, announced in Nangarhar on Thursday that at least five students and a teacher of a religious school were killed in a bomb blast on the Taliban vehicle’s route in Dara-e-Noor district of the province, and another student was wounded along with four Taliban members.

A spokesman for the Taliban's police command in Nangarhar said that the students and their teachers were on their way to study in Dara-e-Noor district.

The Taliban's police command in Nangarhar did not comment on the deaths of four members of the group, but in a video obtained by Afghanistan International, a Taliban official said in response to another person's question that Taliban members were also among the victims.

In addition to this attack, ISIS has claimed responsibility for two other attacks on Pakistani troops in the Khyber and Bajaur areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which are located near the Afghan border.

However, Sabrina Singh emphasised that the US does not consider the Taliban as a cooperative force in the fight against ISIS.

This statement comes after NBC News, citing its sources, reported that in light of the growing global threat from ISIS, Biden administration officials are considering expanding cooperation with the Taliban regime to help track down ISIS-Khorasan.

NBC based this information on details provided by two informed sources and a former US official.

The US and other Western governments are striving to counter the increasing danger posed by ISIS-Khorasan. Until earlier this year, American and other Western officials believed that ISIS-Khorasan had the intent to carry out attacks outside of Afghanistan but lacked the capability to do so.

However, this perspective changed after ISIS' attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow on March 22, which resulted in the deaths of 130 people.

The Taliban have been engaged in a bloody conflict with ISIS over the past few years and claim that ISIS has been suppressed and no longer poses a threat to the group or other countries.