The ETIM's attempt to ally itself with ISIS Khorasan or ISISK, a banned terrorist group accused by the Taliban of abandoning jihad in favor of a negotiated peace deal in Afghanistan, is a matter of deep concern among Chinese authorities. They are familiar with ISISK activity and its hostility towards the Taliban, who are viewed by the former as renegades. The group's top leader, Shahab al Muhajir, announced last year a long war against the Taliban and the Afghan government.

On August 15, the hostility between them grew even stronger and more rancid when the Taliban fighters took control of Kabul. They released hundreds of prisoners languishing in prison, but killed Abu Omar Khorasani, the ISSK commander, and eight other members of his terror group who were also imprisoned in the Afghan capital. Clashes between the Afghan Taliban and ISISK have already led to several deaths and destruction. From 2016 to 2020, Taliban fighters participated unsuccessfully in the destruction of ISISK strongholds in Afghanistan's Nangarhar and Kunar provinces. Often, like its parent group, the Islamic State, which controls a $ 100 billion war chest, ISIS K faces extreme views on the rights of Muslims. ISISK was not happy with the Taliban's relationship with China. It considers unacceptable the "extreme torture and humiliation of Muslims in eastern Turkestan" (the name of the Xinjiang province used by Uighur separatists) by Beijing. Following its initially aggressive stance towards China (between 2014 and 2017), the Islamic State continued its anti-China campaign, which included external support and recruitment of Uighurs and negative propaganda material - in video, audio and print - against China, in animations suspended.

Although the number of combatants is small, ISISK considers itself a highly organized and well-connected unit that is not lacking in funds. According to media reports, ISISK members are technologically savvy and monitor the Taliban movement. It has started recruiting fighters from the South Asian region. Its aim is to recruit highly radicalized and educated Salafists from Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Maldives and some members of the Ikhwani militia from former Afghan militant groups. The Wakhan Corridor is in Afghanistan`s Badakhshan province, which is considered as the ETIM`s hotbed. China is nervous that if the international community refuses to recognize the Taliban, which are already wedded to hardline Islamic ideology and are not one monolith group, may break into different splinter groups with some backing the ETIM and its policy to encourage secessionism in the Xinjiang province. Therefore, China`s strategy towards Afghanistan dangles on the emerging situation. Any slip in the true assessment of the Taliban controlled Afghanistan may prove to be disastrous.