Islamic State expands reach in Afghanistan, threatening West

The Islamic State group has lost its caliphate in Syria and Iraq, but in the forbidding mountains of northeastern Afghanistan the group is expanding its footprint, recruiting new fighters and plotting attacks on the United States and other Western countries, according to US and Afghan security officials.

Nearly two decades after the US-led invasion, the extremist group is seen as an even greater threat than the Taliban because of its increasingly sophisticated military capabilities and its strategy of targeting civilians, both in Afghanistan and abroad.

Concerns run so deep that many have come to see the Taliban, which has also clashed with IS, as a potential partner in containing it.

A US intelligence official based in Afghanistan told The Associated Press that a recent wave of attacks in the capital, Kabul, is "practice runs" for even bigger attacks in Europe and the United States.

"This group is the most near-term threat to our homelands from Afghanistan," the official said on condition of anonymity to preserve his operational security.

"The IS core mandate is: You will conduct external attacks" in the US and Europe.

"That is their goal. It's just a matter of time," he said. "It is very scary."