Taliban are host to jihadis: Political analyst

"The US increasingly shies away from its historic role as net guarantor of security in the region, two things are clear: The Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan is a grave threat to the Middle East; and the countries of the area will have to look for a regional solution to the emerging threat," Dnyanesh Kamat said in an opinion piece published in Asia Times.

He said the Taliban are the world’s most lethal terrorist group.

"They are also currently in possession of an entire state. Given that they have yet to cut their ties explicitly to global jihadism, the Taliban’s rise to power is a grave threat to Afghanistan’s immediate neighborhood and beyond," he said.

"Videos circulating on social media have shown Taliban militants posing in front of American Black Hawk helicopters and Brazilian-made AN-29 ground attack planes. Apart from this, the former government also had Russian-designed Mi-17 helicopters," he said.

He warned that Jihadi groups like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Syria spoke of the Taliban’s victory as an example worth emulating.

"Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula praised the Taliban for 'emancipating' Afghanistan. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has already sworn allegiance to its Afghan counterpart," he said.

"After entering Kabul, the Taliban freed 5,000 prisoners from the city’s Pul-e-Charkhi prison, whose inmates included al-Qaeda and ISIS fighters," read the opinion piece.