ABC Australia, 25 July 2016
A few quotes of AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in this transcript of the Australian broadcaster’s “The full story” programme on the 23 July Kabul terror attack:
(…) Thomas Ruttig from the Afghanistan Analysts Network says while Taliban attacks do kill civilians, it doesn’t usually target them.
That’s because, he says, the Taliban’s ultimate aim is to govern Afghanistan whereas IS wants to foment the same unrest it has elsewhere in the Middle East. (…)
JAMES BENNETT: While some see the bombing as a show of strength for IS, Thomas Ruttig says it parallels the organisation’s fortunes on other battlefields, first conceding territory, then lashing out.
And he says, the group remains a far less significant a threat than the Taliban.
THOMAS RUTTIG: You can of course not exclude that the local IS group will try to pull off other attacks like these, but still in comparison with the Taliban, IS is the lesser problem in Afghanistan.
Revisions:
This article was last updated on 9 Mar 2020
