evidence: ISK emerged in 2015, when the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria announced its expansion to the historic "Khorasan" region, which encompassed parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Central Asia. Initial members of the group predominantly included former hardline members of the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaida, and other militant groups. Since its inception, ISK has seen the Taliban as its strategic rival and ideological opponent. It has targeted Taliban positions and attempted to encourage defections from the movement. From 2015 to 2020, amid sustained military pressure by the U.S., Afghan government forces and the Taliban contained the ISK threat. [...] Before the Taliban’s capture of Kabul in August, TIP had approximately 400 Uyghur fighters, gathered primarily in the Jurm district of the country’s northeastern Badakhshan province, which shares a small border with Xinjiang via the mountainous Wakhan Corridor. Despite being an independent jihadist faction, TIP has performed all its activities in Afghanistan under the guidance and approval of the Taliban. Since 2019, the group has kept a relatively low profile in Afghanistan. The Taliban’s capture of Kabul was an iconic moment for TIP and many other jihadist groups across the world. A few days after the fall of the Afghan government, TIP issued a statement lauding the Taliban’s "victory" and the "restoration of the Islamic Emirate." A potential resurgence of TIP, which China blames for many attacks at home, has been Beijing’s overriding security concern.