ISIS recruits in Taliban territory
Story highlights A group of fighters in Afghanistan is filmed by a CNN cameraman parading ISIS flags U.S. official: ISIS militants have "no military capability" at present, but are trying to recruit disillusioned Taliban in several areas Rivalry between ISIS and the Taliban in Afghanistan is fierce enough to mean the ISIS fighters could be killed for brandishing the flag
A group of fighters in Afghanistan agreed to be filmed by a CNN cameraman parading their ISIS flags in a valley not far to the south of Kabul, the Afghan capital. They are the first images of their kind shot by western media inside Afghanistan.
The rise of ISIS is an issue that the Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani, has termed a "terrible threat."
U.S. officials CNN has spoken to have voiced their concern about the potential for an ISIS presence.
One U.S. military officer said the militants currently have limited capability but are trying to recruit disillusioned Taliban in several areas around the country's east and south.
"There has been some very small numbers of recruitment that has happened," Colonel J B Vowell, told CNN.
"You have disaffected Taliban who are losing politically and some of the younger, newer fighters are moving to that camp. It doesn't mean it's operationally better. We are concerned about it -- resources, weapons, capabilities. (But) I don't see an operational effect."
In the valley, the men display their weapons, and practice high kicks. They are a little breathless at altitude, a little clumsy. They are all masked, all in military-style uniforms. Our cameraman described how locals seemed to keep their distance from them.
It is often said that rivalry between the nascent ISIS presence and the Taliban, who remain the big guns in Afghanistan, is fierce enough to mean the ISIS fighters could be killed for brandishing the flag.
But it is fatigue with the Taliban that appears to have provided fertile ground for their rise. One of them told CNN: "We established contacts with IS (another acronym for the group) through a friend who is in Helmand (in southern Afghanistan).
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ISIS recruits in Taliban territory