Western media outlets are banging the drums over Daesh's growing influence in Afghanistan; they insist that Daesh has overshadowed the Taliban and even seized swathes of eastern Afghanistan.
Western experts suggest that the infamous jihadi group is intending to create an Islamist realm in Afghanistan and spread its influence over neighboring countries. They insist that the root of all evil is the departure of US and British troops from Afghanistan.
"The West is using such reports to present the situation in Afghanistan in the grimmest colors one could imagine to persuade the general public to support the expansion of the US military presence in the country. We are being told that Washington, which is allegedly the ardent fighter of ISIL [Daesh], won't be able to do anything once the US military forces leave the country. Western media sources argue that Afghan troops are not strong enough, so should the US get through the door, we are going to witness a sharp aggravation of the internal political situation," Czech-based freelance journalist and analyst Martin Berger emphasizes in his article for New Eastern Outlook.
Some experts suggest that the Taliban would be ousted from the region and replaced by more radical Daesh group. In early November 2015 Jordan-based Albawaba media outlet reported of fierce clashes between Taliban and Daesh fighters in the southern Zabul province of Afghanistan.
According to Martin Berger the situation is far more complicated.
"Experts argue that the Taliban project, which essentially is nothing more than Washington's brainchild, just like al-Qaeda, has outlived its days and will be brought down. It will be replaced by a new project — the so-called Islamic State [Daesh/ISIL], that is a US creation too. Taliban's ideology is pretty close to the one pursued by ISIL [Daesh], and those two groups have similar goals and methods they would use to achieve them," the journalist points out.
"It's not a coincidence that Afghan experts are calling the Taliban and ISIL [Daesh] 'two sides of the same coin'," he notes.
The journalist points out that notorious Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi received training in the Mujahedeen camps in Afghanistan back in the 1980s.
"It's also noteworthy that Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and al-Baghdadi himself maintained close, friendly relations with the leaders of the Mujahedeen, and worked closely with them," Berger stresses.
Citing the Afghani media reports, the journalist reveals that at one time Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was running a big Taliban training camp located near the town of Islam Qala in the western Herat province of Afghanistan, on the border with Iran.
"Under these conditions, instead of saying that ISIL [Daesh] is expanding its influence in Afghanistan, as the Western media tries to convince us, we can speak about the United States using its creation to destabilize Afghanistan once again," Berger suggests, adding that Daesh in Afghanistan would pose a serious threat to Russia and China, Washington's geopolitical competitors.
