By James Mackenzie

ISLAMABAD, (Reuters) – A WhatsApp message was sent by Mawlavi Elzatullah’s family to his mobile phone last month: “We have killed your Mawlavi Escat, please come and pick up his corpse.”

Ezzatullah’s death in Nangarhar was part of a continuous stream of bombings and assassinations that has undermined Taliban claims they brought more security to Afghanistan during 40 years war.

The victims range from ex-security officials of the ousted government to journalists and civil society activists to Taliban fighters and seemingly random targets such as Ezzatullah, who his family claimed had no enemies.

Taliban claim their victory brought stability to Afghanistan where many people died in the fighting between them and Western-backed troops between 2001 and 2021, before the rise of the ultra-Islamists.

Last week’s pictures of Jalalabad (the provincial capital in Nangarhar) were posted online. They showed two bodies hanging from a rope. Local residents also reported the murder of a Mullah. Video footage of gunmen shooting into cars, killing one or more of its occupants was shared by journalists.

Reuters couldn’t verify the footage or images independently.

According to locals three bodies were brought in from Jalalabad on Sunday after an explosion at a roadside that seemed to have targeted Taliban fighters driving a pick-up truck.

Gunmen later shot and killed a former Afghan soldier from the Afghan Army in front his home, as well as two of his friends.

Taliban downplayed the incident, claiming that it would take decades for the country’s peace to become complete after all of its wars.

Bilal Karimi, a spokesperson for the government said that there are currently 34 provinces and 20 cases per week will be prevented from every incident. We have seen 20 years of rebellion and invading and this will decrease the number of such incidents.”

Former soldiers and intelligence officers of the overthrown government accuse members of the Taliban of targeting them after they took power. Although the Taliban have promised no reprisals they accept that some rogue fighters might have taken action on their own.

Many targeted killings are still unsolved and others may have been the result of regional vendettas.

But others look the result of increasingly open conflict between the Taliban and a local affiliate of Islamic State, a development which the new U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan, Tom West, said on Monday was causing concern https://www.reuters.com/world/us-says-worried-about-increase-attacks-by-isis-k-afghanistan-2021-11-08 in Washington.

In recent months, militant jihadi groups have claimed many of the most deadly attacks on Afghanistan. Hundreds of civilians were killed in large cities.

They are trying to discredit and undermine the Taliban Emirate. Antonio Giustozzi of the Royal United Services Institute London, which specializes in jihadi group studies, stated that security was promised by the Emirate and is trying to discredit it.

According to him, Islamic State (estimated at having around 4,000 fighters) had carried out targeted killings in the past year. This continued after the victory of the Taliban in August, on an “roughly similar scale”.

BIDEN HIRELINGS”

Many people go about their daily business and feel the violence is particularly frightening.

Nangarhar’s university professor, who is also a journalist who said that he was “never as scared” as this moment. He spoke under anonymity because he fears being targeted. He called events in Nangarhar “total chaos.”

Fears that Afghanistan will fall into chaos and return to anarchy have been fueled by violence, which has created the perfect environment for militant groups to carry out attacks on neighboring countries as well as the West.

According to a Western official, “This is what everyone fears,” he said.

Islamic State appeared for the first time in Afghanistan late 2014. It adopted the title Islamic State Khorasan in honor of an ancient name. The Islamic State is currently trying to rebound from the bruising series defeats suffered in 2018 and 2019.

Since the victory of August by the Taliban, the Taliban have claimed several strikes against Shiite mosques or other targets. Most recently they attacked Kabul’s military hospital. At least 25 were killed.

The smaller, more frequent atrocities that are less frequently reported have occurred not only in Nangarhar which has been a long-standing stronghold for Islamic State.

Ghazni is central Afghanistan’s capital, Herat to the west and Balkh to the north are the most affected areas, as well as Paktia (Paktika) and Khost in southeast.

An Islamic State video on Sunday stated that the Taliban were “Biden hiredlings” and “The Taliban militia is lost in panic.”

Insurgents like the Taliban were a cohesive and effective fighting force. Maintaining peace in a crisis country presents new challenges. This includes uniting various factions and establishing norms.

Giustozzi wrote a book about Islamic State in Afghanistan. He said that the Taliban had been trying to attack them while they were still struggling with transitioning from insurgency into government.

He said, “They are aware that the Taliban Emirate will consolidate if they do not allow it to,”