WASHINGTON: The US government has had “a number of conversations” with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on plans to counter the Khorasan faction of the militant Islamic State (IS) group, according to officials.

At a news briefing in Washington on Thursday, they said the Taliban could also benefit from the two $10 million reward offers, announced on Wednesday, for catching the Khorasan chief and his associates.

“We are in communication with the Taliban, and we have been since the Doha agreement (2020) and certainly negotiations leading up to that,” one of the two US officials who briefed the media said. “And we’ve been very clear that we expect the Taliban to make sure that Afghanistan is never again used as a base for external operations against the United States or our allies.”

The officials said the Taliban “understand exactly what commitment they have undertaken” and they “have been working to counter IS”. On this issue, “we have had a number of interactions with them” and those “conversations (were) about ISIS-K and the Taliban’s ability to counter them,” another official said.

Asked if the US would also reward Taliban if they provide information about wanted Khorasan leaders, the official said: “We encourage anyone with any information about the two situations that were stated – the location for identifying Ghafari or any information regarding the Aug 26 attacks.”

Earlier in the briefing, US officials said they believed ISIS-Khorasan still has up to 5,000 militants in Afghanistan, with the capability to conduct attacks throughout the country. “They have capability to conduct attacks throughout the country, including in population centres.”

On Wednesday, the Global Coalition to Defeat IS issued a statement in Washington, pledging to “use all available tools” to eliminate the organisation.

“We will not relent until IS no longer constitutes a threat,” they added.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2022