President Biden wants revenge on ISIS-K, the group that claimed credit for the attack in Kabul that killed dozens.
“We will not forget,” Mr. Biden said from the White House. “We will hunt you down and make you pay.”
What to know about ISIS-K
- Founded in 2015 by Pakistani Taliban
- Smaller, newer, and with more extreme versions of Islam than the Taliban
- A disregard for international borders, with its territories transcending nations such as Pakistan and Afghanistan
- Khorasan is a region that covers parts of Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan
- The name translates to “Land of the Sun”
- Was at its peak size of approximately 3,000 to 4,000 fighters in 2016, one year after it was founded
Origins of ISIS
- ISIS is a breakaway of Al Qaeda who was led by Osamba bin Laden and shielded by the Taliban.
- ISIS is a caliphate, or an Islamic theocracy, and established itself in large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2003.
- In 2015 ISIS announced it was expanding into the Khorasan region
Who are its enemies?
- U.S. forces, its allies, and citizens
- The Taliban, particularly in Eastern Afghanistan, who they have denounced as not extreme or hard-line enough in their Islamic beliefs
- Since 2017 has claimed 250 clashes with the U.S., Afghan and Pakistani security forces
Remember when Trump 100% defeated ISIS?
When Trump announced the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2019, he said, “We obliterated his caliphate, 100 percent, in March of this year.”
After killing Qasem Soleimani in January 2020, he reiterated his claim of destroying “100 percent of ISIS and its territorial caliphate.” He also said that Mr. al-Baghdadi “was trying again to rebuild the ISIS caliphate and failed.”
But clearly, getting rid of the leader does not obliterate the terrorists.
For old time’s sake, if you wish, you can revisit the false bravado of TFG and his mangled bigly speech after killing the ISIS leader.