Taliban splinters--many from group join hardline ISIS-K to support anti-China Uyghur fighters(indianarrative)
The Taliban regime appears to have weakened the group, whose attacks have waned in recent months, reports Asian Lite News
The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has intensified its war with the rival Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) terror group, killing several senior leaders and commanders in recent months, the media reported.
Among them, according to the US, was the alleged mastermind of a suicide bombing outside Kabul airport in 2021 that killed some 170 Afghans and 13 American soldiers, RFE/RL reported..
The White House on April 26 announced that the alleged mastermind, whose identity has not been revealed, was killed in a recent Taliban operation.
But it did not say when or where he was killed, RFE/RL reported.
The Taliban has waged a brutal war to eliminate IS-K, the biggest threat to its rule in Afghanistan.
The regime appears to have weakened the group, whose attacks have waned in recent months.
But the Taliban also appears to be trying to use its campaign against IS-K to burnish its counterterrorism credentials and boost its legitimacy in the eyes of the international community, RFE/RL reported.
Under the US-Taliban deal signed in 2020, the militants pledged to prevent any group from using Afghan soil to attack other countries.
The international community, particularly Afghanistan’s neighbours, considers IS-K a significant security threat because of the group’s global ambitions.
Despite its efforts to eliminate IS-K, the Taliban is believed to be sheltering members of Al Qaeda and the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror groups.
That is likely to temper hopes that the Taliban can be a reliable counterterrorism partner, RFE/RL reported.
On April 14, the Foreign Ministers of China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan said the Taliban has links with some extremist groups based in Afghanistan that “pose a serious threat to regional and global security”.
They include the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, the Baloch Liberation Army, Jundallah, Jaish al-Adl, Jamaat Ansarullah, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, RFE/RL reported.
Recently, the UN Security Council unanimously condemned the Taliban’s ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations in Afghanistan and called to “swiftly reverse” a crackdown on the rights of women and girls.
The attack in Peshawar comes at a time when the country’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) killed an IS-K commander named Bilal Khan, during a police encounter on January 19 this year….writes HAMZA AMEER
The recent devastating suicide bombing, targeted at a Shia Muslim mosque in Peshawar has marked the re-emergence of the dreaded Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) terror group in Pakistan.
The IS-K claimed responsibility for the attack in which a suicide bomber blew himself up after entering into the mosque during Friday prayers, claiming lives of at least 63 and injuring over 200.
It also claimed the terror attack just outside Kabul airport during the evacuation process of foreign forces was underway after the Taliban takeover, as well as many others on mosques and other places in Afghanistan, becoming the biggest opposition to the incumbent regime.
Pakistan had been on consultation with the Afghan Taliban and working towards a joint strategy to counter terror threats from organisations operating along the two countries’ border.
The attack in Peshawar comes at a time when the country’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) killed an IS-K commander named Bilal Khan, during a police encounter on January 19 this year.
It is believed that the commander’s killing activated many sleeper cells, associated with the terror group, who planned to respond with a major suicide attacks.
It is believed that Bilal Khan, who was a member of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), joined the IS in 2015, pledging allegiance to Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi, the group’s slain leader.
Experts believe that intelligence-based operations by Pakistani security agencies against terror elements, including the IS-K, have not only increased targeted attacks, but supporters of the Afghan Taliban have also come under deadly attacks in Peshawar.
The emergence of the IS-K in the heart of Peshawar raises major concerns and a new set of challenges for the Pakistani authorities, as neighbouring Afghanistan conducts search operations in various parts, looking to neutralise the militants.
Some reports also indicate that many IS-K militants have already fled Afghanistan and entered Pakistan, while sleeper cells of the group have also been activated.
It is because of this reason that a major surge of terror attacks is being witnessed in Pakistan.
According to data from Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS), there were at least 207 incidents of terrorism in Pakistan in 2021, a 45 per cent increase over 2020.
The TTP has also been carrying out targeted attacks in various parts of the country, adding on to the challenges Pakistani security forces are confronted with.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said that a fresh wave of terrorism has hit the country where the TTP is targeting policemen in major cities with an aim to breach and break the first line of defense.
While the threat of terrorism looms, many believe that the IS-K can be a much bigger problem than the TTP.
While negotiations with the TTP remains on the agenda of the Pakistani government, it is feared that disagreements among the TTP militants, as well as a deal with Islamabad, may push them towards joining the IS-K.
The US action against the IS-K leadership comes at a crucial time in Afghanistan when terrorist groups like IS-K are busy finding territories to control and influence with the Taliban unable to govern what it has captured with Pakistan’s aid and assistance … writes Dr Sakariya Kareem
The US decision to designate Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) leaders Sanaullah Ghafari, Sultan Aziz Azam, and Maulawi Rajab as Specially Designated Global Terrorists is a clear signal that Washington will continue to play a major role in the region, this time against new global terrorist groups, some with close ties to Pakistan Army. The move comes in the wake of intelligence reports of a possible attack on the US interests by a combine of Al Qaeda and IS-K.
Sanaullah Ghafari or Shahab al-Muhajir has been heading IS-K since May 2020. Ghafari is known to be operating out of Kabul where his group has established a strong network of sleeper cells. Sultan Aziz Azam, also known as Sultan Aziz, has been working as the group’s spokesperson ever since it emerged in Afghanistan. Maulawi Rajab, also known as Maulawi Rajab Salahudin, is a senior leader of IS-K in Kabul Province and is known to be the group’s operational commander in Kabul.
Ghafari’s profile shows the close links his group has with Pakistan. A recent report of the UN Secretary General on the threat posed by ISIL, Ghafari, before joining the IS-K, was a hard-core member of the Haqqani Network, a global terrorist outfit with close ties to Pakistan Army. Besides the working relationship, these two groups are also bound through tribal and marriage ties. A recent New York Times report gave evidence of this complex relationship when it pointed out that how the biometric profiling of detained IS-K terrorists had revealed that biometrics data of certain terrorists were already stored in the database; they were previously arrested as Haqqani Network members.
Another telling evidence of this close ties surfaced when the Pakistani leader of IS-K, Aslam Farooqi (Abdullah Orakzai) was arrested by Afghan security forces in Kandahar last year. He was involved in the March 2020 attack on a gurdwara in Kabul which killed over 25 persons.
Farooqi revealed how the IS-K was not only associated with the Haqqani Network but was also deeply involved in Pakistani groups like LeT and JeM. Farooqi was in fact a LeT leader before he migrated to IS-K. Another former LeT leader whose arrest in April 2020 confirmed this troika was Muneeb alias Abu Bilal. He was an IS-K leader with close ties to the Taliban’s Peshawar shura, LeT and the Haqqani Network.
Last year, a documentary by an Afghan media group, Tolo News, revealed how ISI was acting as a HR department for the Haqqanis as well as IS-K supplying them with cadres from LeT and JeM besides giving the group around $200 million as aid every year. Former Pakistan ambassador to the US and author, Hussain Haqqani, labelled the relationship quite succinctly- “ISKP is an outcome of the ideological extremism of Pakistani jihadi movements.“
What has worried the international community is the quick return of the IS-K in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover of Kabul this year. The UN monitoring report pointed out the rapid expansion of the group both in terms of recruitment and financial transactions. It has reserves about 25 to 50 million US Dollars. Its affiliates are also on the rise.
The UN and other reports point out a projection of 500 to over 10000 fighters, a widely variant figure which confirms the rise of the group. Its presence in and around Kabul has been noticed by many independent agencies. Its increased involvement in attacks on minorities, civil society, government employees and personnel of the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces has been noticed.
The IS-K came into public light when it drove the Taliban out of the mountainous Tora-Bora region in 2017. It was the region which al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden had made its operational headquarters immediately after the September 2001 attacks.
The group’s rise has since been phenomenal. As per the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) count, 77 attacks by IS fighters were detected in the first four months of 2021 year alone. In May, the group carried out a car bombing at a school attended primarily by Shiite girls in Kabul that killed 85 people and injured 300 more. The latest, and perhaps the most fearsome attacks, was the one that took place 10 days after the Taliban took over Kabul in August this year. In the suicide bombing carried out by IS-K at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, over 183 persons, including 13 US military personnel, were killed.
The US action against the IS-K leadership comes at a crucial time in Afghanistan when terrorist groups like IS-K are busy finding territories to control and influence with the Taliban unable to govern what it has captured with Pakistan’s aid and assistance.
