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ISIS Safe House Found in Afghanistan Capital

<p>Authorities discovered an ISIS hideout inside the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday&comma; exposing the abject failure of the country&rsquo&semi;s corrupt government to protect its capital city&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The discovery of the ISIS safe house follows a series of deadly attacks&comma; including a car bomb packed into an ambulance and a siege at a luxury hotel&comma; that have killed nearly 200 people and injured hundreds more&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The hideout was located in the Qala-e-Wahid district&comma; a poor neighborhood in the western part of the city&period; It was filled with suicide vests&comma; weapons&comma; and explosives that ISIS was planning to use in three large attacks in the capital&comma; said one official&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Authorities were led to the hideout by an insurgent they captured Monday during an ISIS attack on a military academy in Kabul&period; Eleven soldiers died during the attack&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Citizens living in Qala-e-Wahid have complained about the government&rsquo&semi;s failure to provide safety&period; Locals know to stay indoors after dark&comma; and say they rarely see police in the area&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Resident Khan Mohammed&comma; who lives directly across from the safe house&comma; says ISIS came to Qala-e-Wahid &ldquo&semi;because it is an insecure area&period;&rdquo&semi; For ISIS&comma; &ldquo&semi;this was the perfect area because you can bring everything here from anywhere&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The terrorist group&rsquo&semi;s ability to conduct attacks inside the capital represents the &ldquo&semi;utter failure of the intelligence services&comma;&rdquo&semi; argues political analyst Haroon Mir&period; &ldquo&semi;You can&rsquo&semi;t blame it on lack of resources or lack of international support&comma;&rdquo&semi; he continued&comma; referencing the billions of dollars that have poured into Afghanistan over the past two decades&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Much of this money has been claimed by people in positions of power&comma; leaving the majority of the Afghan population feeling vulnerable&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;There is no security in this country&comma;&rdquo&semi; complains Mohammad Hajan&comma; another local who lives near the ISIS hideout&period; &ldquo&semi;Our nation is very good&comma; but our leaders are bad&comma; and our government is weak&&num;8230&semi;In the morning&comma; I wake up and I don&rsquo&semi;t know if I will be alive in the evening&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>President Ashraf Ghani responded to the widespread security complaints by calling for a review of security forces in the capital&period; He also blamed Pakistan for sheltering Taliban militants &&num;8211&semi; an accusation Pakistan has repeatedly denied&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The real reason for the lack of security in Kabul&comma; says security analyst Waheed Mozhdah&comma; is corruption within the nation&rsquo&semi;s security forces&comma; adding that soldiers can be bribed to bring &ldquo&semi;ammunition&comma; explosives&comma; everything&rdquo&semi; inside the city&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For the poorest residents of Kabul&comma; helping suicide bombers has become a source of income&period; Locals can earn up to &dollar;4&comma;000 to help a single militant into the city&comma; says Mir&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&mdash&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Kabul is located less than 100 miles from the Nangarhar Province&comma; where ISIS is believed to have established an extensive base&period; The group has recently gained a foothold in the northern part of the country&comma; however&comma; by recruiting ethnic Uzbeks&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There are an estimated 5&comma;000 ISIS militants currently living in the northern half&nbsp&semi;of the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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