Afghanistan: Taliban Kills Islamic State Group Leader

Facts

• US officials confirmed on Tuesday that Afghanistan's ruling Taliban has killed the Islamic State group (IS) leader who reportedly planned the deadly bombing at Kabul airport during the US withdrawal in 2021. The bombing killed 170 civilians and 13 US soldiers as people tried to flee the country.¹
• The IS leader, who was affiliated with IS-Khorasan, the militant group's branch in Afghanistan and Central Asia, was not named; however, US National Security Council member John Kirby referred to him as "the mastermind of the horrific attack."²
• The US was not notified of the IS leader's death by the Taliban, who reportedly launched an operation against IS-Khorasan elements that led to his death, but instead learned of it through intelligence streams.³
• The news of the killing was confirmed after the US military informed the families of the 13 soldiers over the weekend that the IS leader was dead. The family members then shared the information in a private group chat before US officials eventually made it public.⁴
• Neither the US nor the Taliban was reportedly aware that the IS leader had been killed until days after the offensive, but US officials said they had "high confidence" that the leader had been killed from intelligence inputs based on "informants, electronic intercepts, and information from allied spy services."⁵
• Many Republicans have leveled harsh criticism at the Biden administration's handling of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. However, Democrats point to Trump-era policies as a root cause.⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²CNN, ³FOX News, ⁴Al Jazeera, ⁵Daily Wire, and ⁶Guardian.

Narratives

• Republican narrative, as provided by Breitbart. While killing this Islamic State group leader will never bring back the dead or lift the burden of those whose family members were killed, it must force the Biden administration to own up to the responsibility of the chaotic and cold-hearted withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. With the Taliban systematically hunting people down, the war is not over — which points to a massive US government failure.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by PBS. Though many in the US political establishment blame Biden for the Taliban's return to power, it was ultimately an inevitability of a failed war with George W. Bush and Donald Trump also bearing significant blame. While the news of the killing offers a reminder of one of the most challenging chapters of his presidency, it also highlights the role of the Trump administration in creating the mess by providing no plans for how to conduct the withdrawal or to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies.

Predictions