“Taliban checkpoints that dot around the city failed to catch the perpetrators of the Kabul airport attack,” said Nishank Motwani, an Afghan analyst based in Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But that’s based on the assumption the Taliban intended to provide security in the first place to protect lives.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no love lost between IS and the Taliban, with the airport attacks laying bare a years-long fight between the rival jihadist outfits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

IS-K has been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks of recent years including a string of gruesome blasts at mosques, schools, rallies and even hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Taliban however remained confident of their ability to bring the group to heel, and even after Thursday night’s airport carnage, they want to convince Afghans they will be safe under their rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“People should stop leaving Afghanistan and going abroad,” Taliban spokesman Karimi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They are safe now.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Taliban’s pitch to the Afghan people has always been simple \u2013- life under their hardline rule would finally bring security after decades of war. Notorious for using suicide bombers during their insurgency, the Taliban are charged with guarding against the same kind of attacks now that they are in power. The Islamic State-claimed blasts at Kabul airport on Thursday, which killed scores of Afghans as well as 13 US troops, is an early test. “Last night’s attacks have shown once again that no one group can claim monopoly over violence in Afghanistan or claim to secure it,” said Abdul […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[544,545],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n