Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban has killed eight ISIL (ISIS) fighters and arrested several others in a series of raids targeting key figures in a spate of attacks in Kabul, a senior Taliban government spokesman has said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Thursday that the raids in the capital city and western Nimroz province the previous day targeted ISIL members who organised recent attacks on Kabul’s Longan Hotel, Pakistan’s embassy and the military airport.

Eight ISIL fighters, including foreign nationals, were killed and seven others arrested in Kabul, while a separate operation in western Nimroz province resulted in two more ISIL arrests, Mujahid said.

“These members had a main role in the attack on the [Logan] hotel and paved the way for foreign [ISIL] members to come to Afghanistan,” the spokesperson said in a tweet.

ISIL claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing near a checkpoint at the Afghan capital’s military airport on Sunday. The group said that attack was carried out by someone that also took part in the Longan Hotel assault in mid-December.

ISIL had published a photo of the attacker, identifying him as Abdul Jabbar, saying he withdrew safely from the attack on the hotel after he ran out of ammunition. It added he detonated his explosives-laden vest targeting the soldiers gathered at the checkpoint.

ISIL’s regional affiliate – known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) – is a key rival of the Taliban and has increased its attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistan’s Shia minority.

The Taliban swept across the country in August 2021, seizing power as United States and NATO forces were in the last weeks of their final withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan’s defence minister has alleged that Afghanistan’s soil is being used by armed groups to launch attacks on his country, prompting a sharp response from Taliban government in Kabul which called the allegation “incorrect” and “regrettable”.

“We have spoken to Afghanistan government and we will keep saying that … their soil is being used for cross-border terrorism,” Khwaja Asif told a private news channel on Monday night.

A statement issued by the government after the NSC meeting said “no country will be allowed to provide sanctuaries to terrorists” and their attacks “will be dealt with full force of the state”.

The NSC statement did not name any country but it was an apparent reference to neighbouring Afghanistan, whose government denies the allegations as “provocative and baseless”.

‘Provocative assertions’

In response to the two statements, Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban government in Afghanistan, on Tuesday said “the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan wants good relations with all its neighboring countries, including Pakistan,” using the name Taliban has given to the country.

“The Islamic Emirate is trying its best that the territory of Afghanistan is not used against Pakistan or any other country. We are committed to this goal, but the Pakistani side is also responsible to try controlling the situation, refrain from giving baseless statements and provocative assertions, because such statement and mistrust is not in the interest of either side,” it added.

The exchange of words between Pakistan and Afghanistan officials follows a series of recent attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an armed group also known as Pakistani Taliban because of its ideological affinity with the Afghan Taliban.

The TTP has been waging a rebellion against the state of Pakistan for more than a decade. The group demands the imposition of their hardline interpretation of Islamic law, the release of its members arrested by the government, and a reversal of the merger of Pakistan’s tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

In 2022 alone, Pakistan’s monitoring agencies recorded more than 150 attacks launched by the TTP across the country, killing dozens of people. Authorities fear the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan has emboldened the TTP and led to its resurgence.

In his interview with the news channel, Asif invoked the Doha accord the Taliban signed with the United States in February 2020 to facilitate the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

As part of the pact, the Taliban committed to not allowing any armed group to use Afghanistan’s soil to launch attacks on another nation. As US and NATO troops began to leave in August 2021, the Afghan Taliban took over Kabul.

‘Peace is non-negotiable’

In a tweet on Tuesday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Sharif said Pakistan will “adopt zero tolerance policy for terrorists challenging its writ”. “Peace is non-negotiable,” he wrote.

Last month, TTP fighters overpowered Pakistani security personnel and took them as hostages at a counterterrorism centre in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The 40-hour siege ended after the Pakistani military stormed the facility and killed all 33 TTP attackers.

The incident added to escalating tensions between Islamabad and Kabul.

Last week, Pakistan’s interior minister Rana Sanaullah said his government is considering launching attacks on TTP hideouts in Afghanistan if the Taliban government fails in handing over members of the armed group to Pakistan.

The Taliban responded, saying Afghanistan is “not without its owner”.

“As always, we are ready to defend the territorial integrity and independence of our homeland, and it is mentionable we have a better experience than anyone in defending and protecting our country,” it said in a statement.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor said the blast on Sunday left several people dead and wounded, adding that an investigation was under way. He did not specify the nature or target of the explosion.

Local residents said a loud explosion was heard before 8am (03:30 GMT) in the vicinity of the military side of the heavily fortified airport. They said the area had been sealed off by security forces, and all roads had been closed.

A Kabul resident said late on Sunday his brother, an air force officer, was killed in the explosion.

“He had worked in the previous government too as an air force officer,” Abdul Noor told AFP news agency, referring to the removed, Western-backed government of former President Ashraf Ghani.

“He and some of his colleagues were in a queue waiting to enter the military airfield when the blast occurred,” Noor said, indicating the explosion had caused more casualties.

Security concerns

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but the regional affiliate of ISIL (ISIS) – known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K) – has increased its attacks since the Taliban stormed back to power in August 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistan’s Shia minority.

“ISIS-K is the only enemy claiming the illegality of the Islamic emirate in Afghanistan [Taliban],” Nasratullah Haqbal, a journalist and political commentator, told Al Jazeera.

Last month, at least five Chinese nationals were wounded when ISIL-linked attackers stormed a hotel popular with Chinese nationals in Kabul.

Haqbal told Al Jazeera that these attacks have left Afghans questioning the Taliban’s claims of bringing security to the country.

“It challenges the only privilege that the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan [Taliban] has – all the time that it raises that we brought security, incomparable security to Afghanistan,” he said.

“The second point is it creates concerns among the public of Afghanistan because we know the situation is not good economically, politically and socially, so such type of explosions and attacks bring these questions that the current government is unable to secure the people.”