give us some context to that. >> in january 2015 when the khorasan province was launched, defectors from pakistan taliban joint to form the khorasan wing. there were a number of pakistani taliban militants who joined and switched their allegiance to khorasan. they were able to attack pakistan from connections with local groups. in may 2019, they decided to work on an individual basis instead of collaborating with other local militant groups. >> the taliban and isil-k are not the only groups operating around afghanistan. al qaeda has been a primary u.s. target in afghanistan since 2001. a report by the u.s. defense department said the group poses a limited threat because it is focused on survival. there is also a semi-autonomous component of the afghan taliban and an ally of al qaeda. there are a number of smaller groups like the pakistani taliban. its fighters fought alongside the afghan taliban against the afghan government. reports seem to suggest that isil-k are linked to the taliban via a third party and that party is the hakani network. what is the relationship between the three? >>

you'll appreciate that there are islamic state khorasan province terrorists out there, i can't go intosonnel, but also of the afghan people who are trying to get out. but what i would stress is that we're coming now towards at the end of this phase in any event, in the sense that we have already airlifted out of afghanistan a huge number of people, it's the biggest operation of its kind in decades. i think everybody involved, the uk military, everybody involved at the airport, everybody who has been helping us, they should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved. there's a suggestion that people who can't get to the airport should head to borders, but if the taliban haven't agreed to that, that could be hugely dangerous. i want to just go back to what i was saying about phase one and phase two beyond august 31. just to stress that we think that we've got the overwhelming majority of those eligible under the eligible persons scheme or under the arap scheme, the afghan repatriation and assistance programme, both those schemes, we think we have done the lion's share. there will be

>> i think the isis-k for khorasan province which is along the afghan/pakistan border, the isis-k is a wildcard for the white house and the taliban. just as the taliban are trying to assemble a government to transition from insurgency to government, they face a threat from isis, which is a sworn enemy of the taliban. so you have in the close proximity of the airport where u.s. troops, british troops, western troops are face to face with the taliban, you have this wildcard third actor of the isis-k movement which could see as a lucrative target the masses of people assembled around the airport and has an opportunity to strike not only the u.s. but the taliban as well. >> i was just thinking about kind of your deep history in planning for the drawdown of u.s. troops in years past. when you were involved in the drawdown planning years ago, did you imagine that it could have gone down like this? >> i left before such planning took place. we were still planning on the military front and on the diplomatic front, the political front when i was involved in afghanistan. but i will say that i

>> well, the state of the khorasan province as they are known. over the past five year, six of the leaders, and six of the leaders have been killed or captured or recapture and what i have seen in the press, the taliban when they released the prisoners from bagram air force base, they have killed the last that was caught. so despite the losses of the mid-level operatives, they have managed to be resilient particularly when it comes to these terrorist operation, and measuring isis-k is not a matter of fighting, but to operate. because of the pressure, they are able to decentralize and become independent cells. they are good at low tech operation. when we say complex, it is not like a great deal of sophistication, but it is a cell to attack and bring in the first responders and then the second attack. we are trying to bring in the details of how it was executed, but i suspect that is how it was brought in. so both recognize the threat of the isis-k, and we we hear about credible reporting, that means a great deal of confidence, and sometimes when t

when we talk about the k, it's khorasan, khorasan province, which is an islamist reference to the region scene in 2015 they set up shop in kunar province. u.s. and afghan forces were able to beat back that base in eastern afghanistan. however, isis-k remained capable in kabul, and they have conducted numerous attacks against in particular, the hazar a-shia minority in afghanistan. so they certainly have different goals than the taliban, and they are opposed to each other. now, that's not to say that isis-k might draw from taliban or herkani network elements. >> explain to people what the network is. many people think they are the biggest concern in the region. >> they are. the hakani network is essentially part of the taliban, yet has its own separate base. they were very established in eastern afghanistan going back into the 1980s, and when the taliban took power in 1994 hakani was the tribal affairs minister in the taliban government, and basically controlled the eastern part of afghanistan. so they have always worked hand in glove. it's kind of like a distinction without a difference

kp we call it, the khorasan province.inst them. they're a small group, pretty much decentralized and scattered. without a local partner with whom to work and cia sources on the ground, we're flying a little blind. >> will they be targeting u.s. individuals, u.s. troops, the taliban? what do you see? >> their principle target is us that, es why they're such a rival who sees them as a threat for their own resources and manpower. i think they'd try to stage the most simple attacks as they could which might lookly be the people waiting outside the airport. it would be hard for them to do much damage to u.s. forces except with the fleeing troops that left the afghan army, there's probably a lot of weapons available that include missiles and rockets that could be a challenge for u.s. forces. >> u.s. left behind tons and tons of weapons including guns and tanks and armored personnel carriers, all of which, if these guys get their hold on it, they could use it very devastatingly. what worries me is so many of these isis-k, al qae

this is the name that isis have given their affiliate, they call it the islamic state khorasan province to the swathe of central asia, including parts of iran which they have adopted, they've cloaked themselves in this mantle. they are smaller and weaker than the taliban, they've fought several clashes with them — they are accusing the taliban of being sell—outs, saying this wasn't a taliban victory, "you made this in the —— deal in the air conditioned rooms and dough half." so they've just the military victory and take over, and they've gone underground which is very worrying. now last year, they carried out 2a attacks in kabul alone. their numbers are not huge, probably less than 2000 overall today. you are right in saying their base is in the east of the country, but i don't know if you remember when donald trump in his first few months in office, he ordered the dropping of a massive thing called a massive air ordinance bomb, also known as the mother of all bombs, a 20,000lb bomb, the biggest nonnuclear weapon on the planet — he had this dropped on the planet — he had this dropped on

they call themselves isis khorasan province. iption for a vast area of eastern iran and afghanistan, and it's less than 1000, but they have carried out a number of attacks. they've been around since january 2015. they've attacked both afghan government security forces, the us and the taliban, even when the taliban were themselves insurgents. so, they're basically enemies of everybody, and they are looking for disruption and chaos. these threats are causing some countries to act. poland has announced it is halting all evacuations. the country's deputy foreign minister said in a statement that, "after a long analysis of reports on the security situation, we cannot "risk the lives of our diplomats and of our soldiers." bear in mind that by tuesday next week, all foreign forces should have left afghanistan. life will present a range of challenges. among them, drought and rising food prices and the different rules of life under the taliban. here's our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet. tens of millions of - afghans have n

was to create these mini chapters in various places, and one of them was isis khorasan, the khorasan province, which is ancient muslim land, afghanistan, iran, that part of the world and so they came up in 2014, 2015, and they became pretty powerful quickly, and became a problem for the u.s. forces there but also for the taliban who they don't like particularly much so they have been fighting each other as well as fighting our forces. >> so their vision for afghanistan is different than the taliban's? what is the conflict between the two? i mean, is it religious or is it, you know, mafia groups wanting power? >> there's a little bit of both because obviously afghanistan is sort of land of war lords and they have been fighting over various things for centuries, but incredibly isis khorasan thinks the taliban is too moderate. for example, the cooperation that's taking place at the airport is just more proof that the taliban is too modern, it's working with the west. we don't trust these guys, and so they're wanting to impose an even stricter version, a more extreme version of sharia and islamic

the khorasan province which is ancient muslim land, what is really afghanistan-iran, part of -- that2015 and they became pretty powerful, pretty quickly. and became a problem for the u.s. forces there but also for the taliban who they don't like particularly much. so they have been fighting each other, as well as fighting our forces. >> so their -- their vision for afghanistan is different than -- than the taliban's? i mean, what is the conflict between the two? i mean, is it religious? or is it, you know, mafia groups wanting power? >> there's a little bit of both because, obviously, afghanistan is sort of land of warlords and they have been fighting over various things for centuries. but incredibly, isis khorasan things that the taliban is too moderate. they think that, for example, so the cooperation that's taking place at the -- at the airport is -- is -- is just more proof that the taliban is -- is too moderate. it's working with the best. we don't trust these guys. and so, they're -- they're wanting to impose an even stricter version, a more extreme version of sharia and islami

isis-k, this is the islamic state khorasan province and they became about in 2015. they're there.hese members of isis were disaffected taliban members. so it's kind of this civil war, so to speak, happening. so was isis targeting the taliban, were they targeting the united states, or both? what do you think? >> hi, tiffany. thanks for having me. so there are internal decisions within the taliban itself and also between these different groups. as you said, there's the taliban, al qaeda, and then isis-k. and if we want to understand what the isis affiliate was trying to accomplish, they're trying to undermine the taliban. that's one of their goals. they see an opportunity to move into this vacuum of leadership and establish themselves and to be a force on the ground. and by launching the attack that killed 13 service members the other day, they're able to basically show that the taliban doesn't have full control and to also kind of make a bid that they are the more extreme option. so for people who are dissolutioned with the taliban's moderation, that's how the taliban is trying to

. —— islamic state of iraq and the levant —— khorasan province.ast of the country. they have lost a lot of territory in recent years. they are rivals to al-qaeda and the caliban which is —— and taliban. they have been putting out their own propaganda playing down their own propaganda playing down the taliban takeover saying it's not really a victory and the americans handed to them, criticising the fact that this entire situation derived out of the lohan preece break peace talks. —— derived from peace talks. they are hell—bent on making trouble and there was clearly some threat intelligence over the past few days picked up by the americans and their allies that isis, isis k or iskp are going to carry out an attack at the airport and you have to look at the pictures and imagine what a single mortar round, suicide bomber, truck, or attack were due to the incredibly volatile situation in the airport which is why no amount of g7 pressure on president biden will change the fact that if the caliban say august 31 is the deadline, that is the deadline and

the k comes from khorasan, a province in afghanistan. they've been active in the east of afghanistan. that's where most of the fire fighting was. the taliban are enemies of isis-k they had a lot of fire fights since isis-k showed itself back in 2015 and that was a little bit after he saw isis sprouting up in iraq and syria, remember that conflict. they used to have, in iraq and syria, a caliphate that was about the size of britain at its height, it's been beaten back in that region, but now we're seeing isis once again in afghanistan. it was only a little bit ago that the taliban said that they too had extinguished isis in afghanistan. isis-k in afghanistan, it's more austere in terms of its islamic outlook than the taliban if you can believe that. they're more conservative, more violent. whether they came from other taliban fighters, it's clear they have a lot of people in common. it seems it's a lot of disgruntled taliban fighters who joined isis-k because the taliban wasn't extreme enough for some reason and they decided they are look

province with this drone strike. we have to continue, wolf. we have to punish and bring to account anybody who was associated with this attack, and we have to disrupt any future plots. isis khorasan is a common enemy of the taliban, us, and other regional players, and so we expect their accordcooperation. >> we heard president biden say this about the terror attack at the airport. congressman, listen to this. >> those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes america harm, know this. we will not forgive. we will not forget. we will hunt you down and make you pay. >> yesterday, the white house press secretary went one step further and said the u.s. will remove these people from the face of the earth. in other words, kill them. do you expect more air strikes along these lines, and do you want the u.s. military to go out there and kill these terrorist planners? >> yes, we need to neutralize them. they are clear and present threats to us and to our allies. they intend to do us more harm, and there are threats right now to our troops and our personnel, as well as american nationals and our allies who are coming to the airport as we speak. so we have to do everything we