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CAMP SHORABAK, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan and Pakistan, home to al-Qaida and Taliban militants and the focus of the longest war in U.S. history, face a new, emerging threat from the Islamic State group, officials have told The Associated Press.
Disenchanted extremists from the Taliban and other organizations, impressed by the Islamic State group's territorial gains and slick online propaganda, have begun raising its black flag in extremist-dominated areas of both countries.
In Pakistan, an online video purportedly shows militants beheading a man while pledging their allegiance to the IS. In Afghanistan, there have even been reports of militant rivalries, with clashes erupting between Taliban fighters and Islamic State militants.
In Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, residents say a former Taliban commander named Mullah Abdul Rauf has begun recruiting fighters for the Islamic State group.
"People are saying that he has raised black flags and even has tried to bring down white Taliban flags in some areas," said Saifullah Sanginwal, a tribal leader in Sangin district. "There are reports that 19 or 20 people have been killed" in fighting between the Taliban and the IS, he added.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said in November there was no Islamic State group presence, only militants using its name. However, a government letter written a month earlier and later obtained by the AP warns local officials that the Islamic State group has begun courting area militants and that the extremists claim the support of up to "12,000 followers" in northwest Pakistan.
It seems that there has been infighting between the Taliban and the IS. The question is why? Both share the same ideology like imposing a Islamic theocracy and treating women like second class citizens