For Afghans like Fawad Nazami, life under the Taliban would be a fate 'worse than death.' Nazami is a political counselor at the Afghan embassy in Washington D.C. He told NPR this week he would never return to an Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

Now, that same Afghanistan confronts a deadly new reality: the emergence of ISIS-K, which claimed responsibility for this week's attack that killed 13 Americans and dozens of Afghan civilians. Seth Jones with the Center for Strategic and International Studies explains how the group fits into the complex picture of Afghanistan, where the Taliban is still trying to gain international recognition. Mina Al-Lami, a BBC expert on extremist messaging, has been following their efforts.

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