KABUL – Top US generals believe the rivalry and clashes between the Talibanand Islamic State-Khorasan will help counter the growing influence inAfghanistan of the terror group led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according tomedia reports.

Intensified efforts to root out the Islamic State in Afghanistan are makingprogress in some areas but have failed to prevent the group frommaintaining a foothold in the country, according to the latest USintelligence estimates, VOA reported.

Islamic State-Khorasan is believed to have more than 1,000 fighters,including local Afghans, Pakistanis and Uzbeks. Most of them are insouthern Nangarhar province and a small number in eastern Kunar province.

Over the past few months, the US may have been able to turn the rivalrybetween the Taliban and Islamic State to its advantage, the report said.

“The Taliban are fighting ISIS, and we encourage that because ISIS needs tobe destroyed,” said Gen John Nicholson, commander of US forces inAfghanistan.

In northern Jowzjan province, the combination of what US officialsdescribed as a series of “intensive operations” against IslamicState-Khorasan, along with a Taliban ground campaign, appears to have paidoff. The Taliban recently announced that all the northern provinces hadbeen purged of Daesh militias.