A regional branch of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the killing of Zabihullah Amiri, the head of the information and culture department in Badakhshan, in a rare deadly attack on a Taliban official in northeastern Afghanistan. Amiri was shot dead while en route to the provincial capital Faizabad on Tuesday.
The Islamic State-Khorasan group, the chapter in Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in a statement on Wednesday that it carried out the attack. "The soldiers of the Caliphate targeted a commander from the apostate Taliban militia... with machine guns, killing him along with one of his guards," the group said, according to monitoring organization SITE Intelligence Group.
Amiri was a nephew of Amanuddin Mansur, the governor of southern Helmand province. Following the attack, Afghanistan's information and culture ministry stated that one of the assailants was killed and a second was arrested. The ministry vowed that such attacks would not weaken their resolve.
Taliban officials have pledged to restore security to Afghanistan since returning to power in 2021, but sporadic attacks continue. The Islamic State-Khorasan group has claimed several attacks, including an explosion at a Chinese restaurant in central Kabul in January that killed at least seven people and a suicide bombing in Kabul in December 2024 that killed refugees minister Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani.
The ongoing violence underscores the challenges the Taliban face in maintaining security and stability in Afghanistan, despite their efforts to assert control over the country.
