The Islamic State’s (IS) greater war strategy against the Taliban in Afghanistan includes a kinetic militant component geared to inflict violence on state and civilian targets paired with a media campaign purposed to delegitimize the Taliban as a governing body and discredit it as a religious authority. Regarding the latter, IS and its Afghanistan-based branch—the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP)—are crafting narratives about the Taliban’s governing failures and criticizing their policies. One such emergent theme is the Taliban’s acceptance of foreign aid from states deemed by IS as enemies of Islam, with Uzbekistan being the latest example.
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