伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国声称对以下事件负责周四在喀布尔机场附近爆发的爆炸造成至少13名美国军人死亡和170名阿富汗人。
美国官员警告称，在塔利班全面接管政权后，过去一周发生了伊斯兰国的袭击。美国中央司令部的肯尼斯·麦肯齐将军周四说，袭击者是两名ISIS自杀式炸弹袭击者。
专家表示，这个被称为塔利班“死对头”的组织对美国在该国的存在构成了最大的威胁。
美国现在正与时间赛跑，争取在拜登总统8月31日的最后期限前撤军。
拜登周二警告称，“我们在地面上的每一天都是我们知道ISIS-K正在寻求以机场为目标，同时攻击美国和盟军以及无辜平民的又一天。”
什么是ISIS-K?
ISIS-Khorasan，又名ISIS-K，是伊斯兰国(ISIS)的附属组织，该组织在伊拉克和叙利亚建立了哈里发政权，后来被美军摧毁。伊斯兰国在非洲、中东和南亚设有地理分支机构，伊斯兰国-K是其附属机构，总部设在阿富汗东部靠近巴基斯坦边境的地方。
美国广播公司新闻撰稿人、前美国国土安全部官员伊丽莎白·诺依曼(Elizabeth Neumann)表示，该组织大约在六年前出现。
安全咨询公司搜凡集团的反恐分析师科林·克拉克告诉美国广播公司新闻，伊斯兰国是塔利班的“死对头”。
“它确实非常密切地跟踪了基地组织的演变，并开发了一种类似的分散模式，以真正应对美国的反恐压力，”他说。
克拉克说，该组织估计有1500至2200名战士，包括阿拉伯人、中东人、巴基斯坦人和其他南亚人。
他形容他们是一个“跨国集团”，而不是塔利班，塔利班主要由普什图人组成外交关系委员会。
根据一份报告，2021年1月至4月，伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国声称或归因于袭击的事件有77起，是去年同期的三倍6月联合国报告。去年，该组织于5月12日袭击了喀布尔的一个产科病房，并于11月2日袭击了喀布尔大学。
联合国报告称，伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国“继续对该国和更广泛的地区构成威胁”，并专注于招募，其核心基地在库纳尔省和楠格哈尔省的小地区。
外交关系委员会的恐怖主义学者布鲁斯·霍夫曼说，该组织反对塔利班、基地组织以及美国
他说:“他们的目标是肆意攻击美国，因为他们把美国视为主要敌人。“此外，我认为这也是为了让塔利班难堪。伊斯兰国试图进入并在阿富汗建立基地，与塔利班竞争。他们的意识形态基本相同。与其说这是一场意识形态或宗教斗争，不如说这是一场权力斗争。”
诺伊曼形容该组织比塔利班更加暴力。
“当我想到ISIS时，我认为极其残酷。这并不是说塔利班有不残暴的良好记录，而是一种稍微不同类型的残暴，”纽曼说。“(塔利班)听起来好像是在试图维护一个政府，管理一个国家。”
他们的议程是什么?
克拉克说，该组织的目标是开拓一些他们可以统治的领域，并引用了伊斯兰国的座右铭“保持和扩张”
他说:“如果他们有朝一日觉得自己统治了足够多的领土，他们很可能会试图再次宣布哈里发国。
他接着说，“塔利班没有被ISIS-K超越的风险，他们只是没有数字。ISIS-K扮演了更多的搅局者角色，在那里他们能够发动某种攻击，让塔利班失去平衡。但我从来不指望他们会像塔利班那样威胁要接管阿富汗。”
外交关系委员会的霍夫曼表示，ISIS-K的任何攻击都不应该让人感到意外。
“在过去的一年里，它们已经蔓延到另外七个省份。所以很明显，ISIS-K在最近几个月变得更加活跃和具有威胁性，”霍夫曼说。“阿富汗目前的动荡和混乱为他们提供了无数新的机会，让他们关注自己和自己的事业，并基本上惩罚他们的所有敌人——美国，但也包括塔利班和基地组织。”
他们对美国构成了什么威胁?
专家说，随着美国离开阿富汗，伊斯兰国今后可能会发动袭击。
克拉克说:“他们最想做的就是策划对美国的袭击。
霍夫曼说，在“可预见的未来”不太可能对美国本土发动袭击，但可能是“长期的”。
至于阿富汗，随着塔利班的接管和ISIS-K等恐怖威胁的上升，它的未来是不明朗的。
霍夫曼说:“阿富汗总体上正被重新淹没在一个非常非常黑暗的时期。
ISIS-K claims responsibility for explosion at Kabul airport. What's their agenda?
ISIS-K has claimed responsibility forthe explosion that erupted near the Kabul airport on Thursday and killed at least 13 U.S. service membersand 170 Afghans.
U.S. officials had warned of an ISIS attack over the past week in wake of the sweeping Taliban takeover. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie of the U.S. Central Command said Thursday that the attackers were two ISIS suicide bombers.
Experts said the group, dubbed the "mortal adversary" of the Taliban, pose the biggest threat to America's presence in the country.
The U.S. is now racing against time to withdraw by President Joe Biden's Aug. 31 deadline.
Biden warned Tuesday, "Every day we're on the ground is another day we know that ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport and attack both U.S. and allied forces and innocent civilians."
What is ISIS-K?
ISIS-Khorasan, aka ISIS-K, is an affiliate of the Islamic State, or ISIS, which established a caliphate in Iraq and Syria that was later destroyed by American forces. ISIS has geographical branches in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia and ISIS-K is its affiliate based in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border.
Elizabeth Neumann, an ABC News contributor and former U.S. Homeland Security official, said the group emerged about six years ago.
ISIS-K is the "mortal adversary" of the Taliban, Colin Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst with security consulting firm Soufan Group, told ABC News.
"It really tracked quite closely with the evolution of al-Qaida and developed a similar kind of decentralized model really in response to U.S. counterterrorism pressure," he said.
The group has an estimated 1,500 to 2,200 fighters, consisting of Arabs, Middle Easterners, Pakistanis and other South Asians, Clarke said.
He described them as a "transnational group" as opposed to the Taliban, which is predominantly comprised of Pashtuns, according to theCouncil of Foreign Relations.
There were 77 ISIS-K claimed or attributed attacks from January to April 2021 -- three times as many ISIS-K attacks in Afghanistan than that same period last year, according to aJune United Nations report. Last year the group attacked a maternity ward in Kabul on May 12 and Kabul University on Nov. 2.
ISIS-K "continues to pose a threat to both the country and the wider region" and is focused on recruitment, with its core base in small areas of the Kunar and Nangarhar Provinces, the UN report said.
Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the group stands against the Taliban and al-Qaida as well as the U.S.
"Their objective is to wantonly attack the U.S. because they see the U.S. as their main enemy," he said. "Also, I think it's designed to embarrass the Taliban as well. ISIS attempted to move in and establish a base in Afghanistan to compete with the Taliban. Their ideologies are pretty much the same. It's more of a power struggle than an ideological or religious one."
Neumann described the group as much more violent than the Taliban.
"When I think of ISIS, I think extremely brutal. It's not that the Taliban has a good record of not being brutal, but it's a slightly different type of brutality," Neumann said. "[The Taliban] sounds as if they're trying to stand up a government and run a country."
What is their agenda?
The group has an objective to carve out some piece of territory that they can rule, Clarke said, citing ISIS's motto to "remain and expand."
"If they were ever to reach the point where they felt like they were governing a sufficient amount of territory, they may very well attempt to declare a caliphate again," he said.
He went on, "The Taliban is not at risk of being overtaken by ISIS-K, they just don't have the numbers. ISIS-K is playing more of a spoiler role, where they'll be able to kind of launch attacks, keep the Taliban off balance. But I don't ever expect them to get to the point where they're threatening to take over Afghanistan in the same way the Taliban did."
Hoffman, with the Council on Foreign Relations, said that any attacks from ISIS-K shouldn't come as a surprise.
"Over the past year, they've spread to an additional seven provinces. So clearly, ISIS-K has become more active and threatening in recent months," Hoffman said. "The current upheaval and chaos in Afghanistan presents them with a myriad of new opportunities to draw attention to themselves and their cause and basically punish all their enemies -- the U.S. but also the Taliban and al-Qaida as well."
What threat do they pose to the U.S.?
With the U.S. leaving Afghanistan, experts say future attacks by ISIS-K are likely to occur.
"There's nothing they'd love more than to plot an attack on the U.S.," Clarke said.
An attack on U.S. soil isn't likely for the "foreseeable future" but may be in the "long term," according to Hoffman.
As for Afghanistan, with the Taliban takeover and rising terror threats like ISIS-K, its future is murky.
"Afghanistan overall is being re-submerged into a very, very dark period," Hoffman said.
