This is Popular Front, a podcast focused on the niche details of modern warfare and underreported conflict with me Jake Hanrahan. For this episode we're speaking to analyst

Lucas Weber he's also the editor of the excellent militant wire.com check

them out we're going to be talking about the Taliban's

ongoing battle against the Islamic State Corosan province, which is essentially the

wing of ISIS in Afghanistan.

They've been causing a lot of problems for the Taliban.

Specifically recently, there's been a big bombing at a Shia mosque.

ISIS K, as they're also known as as have just bombed the Russian embassy.

It's a big problem for the Taliban.

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I was thinking firstly before we go into why the serious differences and whatever, you know, between Taliban and ISIS in Afghanistan,

first of all, maybe we can talk about the recent attacks because up until now from what I understand ISIS K as it's known in the Curosun province like ISIS Afghanistan they've not

been as much of a threat as they seem to be now to the Taliban and you know the people they kill.

Maybe just go over for us like what is there what is their recent activity being like?

I could provide some quick background to show the kind of rise, decline, and resurgence of it.

The Islamic State Curzon province, which is a kind of

Apak branch of the Islamic State.

It has its origins in the, in Pakistan, Afghanistan in the general region in 2014 and

officially 2015 when it was recognized by the Islamic State Central Leadership.

And the emergence of this kind of A-PAC branch was of course inspired by the rapid rise of the Islamic State and the establishment

of the caliphate in the in Iraq and Syria in 2014 and the kind of global momentum and the ideological spread

...