“Contrary to considerable speculation, the Taliban insurgency appeared to have put far more emphasis on fighting Daesh than did its predecessors” Opinion | SyedIbrahim1137
Along with emigres from the Pakistani side of the border, Daesh attracted Afghan recruits with misgivings about the Taliban movement, like Abdul-Rahim Muslimdost, a reporter and former captive of the United States who served briefly as Daesh’s political leader in Khorasan before breaking away because of its brutality. , former Kabul corps commander during the “emirate” and a former prisoner of the United States.
Increasingly unhappy with the Taliban insurgency’s politics, he founded a short-lived front in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand, fighting his former colleagues before an American airstrike slew him in February 2015. Like Khadim, irritation at Taliban politics – particularly a succession crisis in 2015-16 – motivated another short-lived front in the Afghan south, led by Qari Saifullah among his Kakar clansmen.