Islamic State militants now present in all 34 Afghan provinces, says UN envoy

In a bleak assessment of the situation following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the UN envoy to the war-torn country on Wednesday said that an affiliate of the Islamic State group has grown manifolds and looks to appear in almost all 34 provinces.

Deborah Lyons, UN Special Representative told the UN Security Council that the Taliban's response to Islamic State-Khorasan Province's (ISKP) expansion "appears to rely heavily on extrajudicial detentions and killings" of suspected ISKP fighters.

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"This is an area deserving more attention from the international community," Lyons said.

These remarks came after the ISKP group, which is an ideological foe of the Taliban, claimed responsibility for two blasts.

The Taliban has been unable to check growth of the ISKP, said the envoy.

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Lyons said, "Once limited to a few provinces and the capital, ISKP now seems to be present in nearly all provinces, and increasingly active." The envoy added that the number of the attacks by the group have increased from 60 strikes in 2020 to 334 this year.

The UN mission has been regularly receiving credible reports of house searches and the "extrajudicial killings" of former security personnel and officials, Lyons added.

(With inputs from agencies)