Following reports of a Taliban night raid on an “ISIS hideout” in western Kabul, a former CIA official has given a different account of the event.
Sarah Adams, a former CIA officer, has posted a note on the social network X that the main target of the operation was actually a Taliban intelligence base and not a position of the ISIS Khorasan branch.
The Taliban had previously announced that its forces had attacked an ISIS-affiliated center in the 15th district of Kabul on Monday evening. This account was also confirmed by a number of local sources.
However, Sarah Adams says that the building that the Taliban stormed was controlled by an intelligence unit called “Zulfiqar”, which is one of the Taliban’s intelligence branches.
She added: “We have closely examined this place and have significant information about it. This location was one of the key points in our field investigations into the 2021 ISIS-K attack on Kabul airport.”
According to Adams, by launching such show-off operations, the Taliban is trying to present itself as an active force in the fight against terrorism and thereby gain the approval of Western countries, especially the United States.
He also claimed that in return for carrying out such operations, the Taliban receives specific financial assistance from the United States under the name of “anti-terrorism funds,” which are transferred to the group through Doha.
