“There is information about the transition in the northern provinces of Afghanistan of some former government security officials from the army and special services to the ranks of the IS,” TASS quoted Kuzmin as saying at a meeting of the Security Council of the world organization.

According to him, a similar situation could be observed in Iraq at one time.

He added that the US operation to eliminate the IS leader "can hardly be called successful."

Earlier, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that the Russian side called on the Taliban *

to step up efforts to counter terrorism in Afghanistan.

* "Islamic State" (IS) - the organization was recognized as a terrorist organization by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of December 29, 2014.

** Taliban - the organization is under UN sanctions for terrorist activities.