Taliban Foreign Minister Says 1,800 ISIS Prisoners Were Released From Prisons When Kabul Fell

When the Taliban took control of Kabul, the Afghan capital, 1,800 ISIS militants were released from Bagram and Pul-e-Charkhi prisons, according to Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting Foreign Minister of the Taliban, who made the statement at the Tashkent international conference in the capital of Uzbekistan.

Foreign Minister Muttaqi conceded the release of ISIS prisoners during his speech at the Tashkent conference on Tuesday, July 26. However, he claimed that during the previous 11 months of Taliban administration, the group had grown strong enough to subdue ISIS fighters.

He asserted that when the ISIS members were besieged by the Taliban in Jawzjan province in northern Afghanistan, the previous administration flew them to Kabul. He further claimed that for the previous 11 months, the same ISIS had been causing unrest in Afghanistan.

Previously, American officials even said the Taliban's release of extremist Islamist ISIS prisoners from the prisons of Pul-e-Charkhi and Bagram had strengthened the group.

After taking control of every province last year, the Taliban pardoned all the prisoners with all the detention centers and prisons in Afghanistan were emptied when this group took Kabul.

Even though the Taliban have underlined time and time again that ISIS does not physically exist in Afghanistan and does not pose a threat, since the Taliban's gaining control, ISIS has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks on mosques, schools, and cars.

• Saqalain Eqbal

  Saqalain Eqbal is an Online Editor for Khaama Press. He is a Law graduate from The American University of Afghanistan (AUAF).

  View all posts

MENAFN27072022000228011069ID1104599213