So-called Islamic State began to appear in what it calls Khorasan (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia, Iran, and India) in 2014. Reports of its presence were at first dismissed as propaganda, but during 2015 it became clear that IS had a serious presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan at least.
In June 2014, when the Islamic State (IS) declared itself to be a caliphate, with Abu Bakr al Baghdadi as its leader, there was barely presence of the extremist group outside its immediate area of influence in Syria and Iraq. However, in just over a year, the IS has grown into a terror organization with presence across the globe and a sanctuary in Syria and Iraq. The IS sees itself to be a worldwide caliphate with a territorial claim from Spain to Eastern India and Bangladesh. The ‘Khorasan Province’ of the caliphate engulfs India, Pakistan and other neighboring nations.
The Islamic State’s Khorasan province (IS-K) is led by a core of former Ban Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan commanders from Orakzai and Khyber Agencies of Pakistan; the majority of mid-level commanders are former Taliban from Nangarhar, with the rank and file a mixture of local Afghans, Pakistanis, and foreign jihadists mostly from Central Asia.
IS-K receives funding from the Islamic State’s Central Command and is in contact with leadership in Iraq and Syria, but the setup and day-to-day operations of the Khorasan province have been less closely controlled than other Islamic State branches such as that in Libya. IS-K emerged in two separate locations in Afghanistan in 2014—the far eastern reaches of Nangarhar province along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and Kajaki district of southern Helmand province. IS-K expanded in Nangarhar through the spring and summer of 2015, gaining partial control of seven districts by first remaining nonviolent and appealing to local Salafi networks and later entering into strategic alliances with cross-border militant networks.
The Helmand front was quickly defeated by the Taliban. By the fall of 2015, Is-k grew more violent, announcing a ban on poppy cultivation and threatening aspects of the tribal social order; the limited public support in Nangarhar began to erode. In early 2016, as Is-k leadership fractured into Pakistani and Afghan factions, the Taliban launched a counterattack that, along with U.S. air strikes and operations by private Afghan militias stalled the Is-k advance. As of July 2016, IS-K was still present in a handful of Nangarhari districts and capable of launching spectacular attacks, including a suicide bombing in Kabul that killed more than eighty. There are few indications that the Islamic State is looking to shift its main effort to Khorasan, Since Mosul and Raqqa fall, however, there are signs that IS-K is looking to strengthen.
Its relationship to Islamic State Central is seeking more assistance in the form of trainers and is pressing for the return of Afghan nationals currently fighting for the Islamic State in the Levant to support operations along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The Taliban remain a greater threat to the Government of Afghanistan than Is-k. The government’s strategy of stepping aside as the Taliban and Is-k fight each other may have diminishing returns, particularly in places such as eastern Afghanistan where Taliban-Islamic State alliances of convenience could further undermine security.
In April 2017 the U.S. military Claim that 700 ISIS fighters remained in the country and then proceeded to drop the “mother of all bombs,” one of the largest non-nuclear devices, against an ISIS facility in Afghanistan. Three months later, the U.S. military said it had killed Abu Sayed, the head of ISIS Khorasan, as the group is known in the country, during an airstrike in June. At the time, a Pentagon spokeswoman said the U.S. actions “will significantly disrupt the terror group’s plans to expand its presence in Afghanistan.”
ISKP again raise shot after the use of Mother Bomb of all bombs, in the start of 2018, the ISKP Islamic State Khorasan bloody attack continuously shaken Kabul and Pakistan. From January 2018 to August Islamic State Khorasan ISKP killed 800 people and round about 1300 people became injured in different attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Last month a high profile meeting of four spy chiefs taken place in Islamabad, which attained by Iran, Russia, China and Pakistan Spy chiefs, In that meeting four countries spy heads discuss the threat of ISKP and agree on a combined counter strategy.
After Taliban ISKP is a serious threat for the region. Pakistan, Afghanistan and other regional countries need to make a special regional and countries base counter strategy for ISK. IS as a moderate type of terrorist organization which has the capability of every type of War, the modern terrorist experts in propaganda, publicity, and have the unique art of Guerilla War. In order to establish a foothold in Afghanistan, IS had to challenge both the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Rather than attempting to co-opt these groups, as it did with groups like Ansar Beit al-Maqdis in Egypt and Boko Haram in Nigeria, Islamic State leaders instead tried to discredit the local groups in Afghanistan. In the December 2014 issue of its online magazine, Dabiq, IS faulted al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban for a number of positions, The ISKP also criticized Mullah Muhammad Omar, the longtime former leader of the Afghan Taliban, for preaching a “distorted” version of Islam.
Through lack of respect for Afghan history and its policy of extreme brutality, IS Khorasan is seen as an outside force in Afghanistan.IS Khorasan is struggling to stay relevant as they continually suffer losses dealt by the Afghan government and international forces and the Taliban. U.S. military pressure is complicating the Islamic State’s attempts to expand into Afghanistan and is eroding its capabilities.
Salahuddin Salarzai:
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