US weapons left behind in Afghanistan are posing new regional security threats, two years after the last US troops pulled out of the country.
The United States completed its withdrawal on August 30, 2021, ending a nearly 20-year mission dubbed "America's longest war."
The Taliban launched an interim government and have since been in charge of security in the country. They have been stepping up their crackdown on the Islamic State militant group, which has carried out repeated terrorist attacks.
The United Nations says the number of civilian casualties due to terrorism is decreasing. But it also points out that bomb attacks targeting ethnic minorities continue.
Security authorities in neighboring Pakistan suspect that some of the 7.2 billion dollars' worth of weapons provided by the US to the former Afghan government have fallen into the hands of extremist groups in their country. The authorities say that the groups, which are believed to have close ties with the Taliban, are using the weapons for terror attacks.
A report by a think tank in Pakistan shows the number of terror attacks in the country from January to June increased by 79 percent from a year earlier, raising concerns about regional instability.