U.S. Military Expects That Taliban Will Fight ISIS in Afghanistan

Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the outgoing commander of U.S. Central Command, told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday that the U.S. assessment of ISIS in Afghanistan, called ISIS-K, is that there are a couple of thousand fighters there and that they’re on a buildup to be able to conduct operations to target U.S. interests outside of the country in about 12-18 months. “I think the Taliban will try to take operations to limit ISIS....” he said. “There are more of them than there have been in the past, you know they are recruiting, and so I think that’s going to be a challenge for the Taliban, although my assessment is the Taliban will attempt to act vigorously against ISIS.”