How much of a threat is ISIS-K in Afghanistan and to the international community?Īs a relatively weakened organization, ISIS-K’s immediate goals are to replenish its ranks and signal its resolve through high-profile attacks. and Afghan-led operations, and American air strikes in particular. What is clear is that the majority of ISIS-K’s manpower and leadership losses were the result of U.S.
and Afghan air power and ground operations against ISIS-K, although the full extent to which these operations were coordinated is still unclear. These clashes have often occurred in tandem with U.S.
ISIS-K’s efforts have met with some success, but the Taliban have managed to stem the group’s challenges by pursuing attacks and operations against ISIS-K personnel and positions. Since its inception, ISIS-K has tried to recruit Afghan Taliban members while also targeting Taliban positions throughout the country. This contradicts the Islamic State movement’s goal of establishing a global caliphate.
It brands the Afghan Taliban as “ filthy nationalists” with ambitions only to form a government confined to the boundaries of Afghanistan. ISIS-K sees the Afghan Taliban as its strategic rivals. What relationship does ISIS-K have with the Taliban? ISIS-K’s goal is to create chaos and uncertainty in a bid to push disillusioned fighters from other groups into their ranks, and to cast doubt on any ruling government’s ability to provide security for the population. These attacks target minorities like Afghanistan’s Hazara and Sikh populations, as well as journalists, aid workers, security personnel and government infrastructure. Like the group’s namesake in Iraq and Syria, ISIS-K leverages the expertise of its personnel and operational alliances with other groups to carry out devastating attacks. This is evident in the group’s messaging, which appeals to veteran jihadist fighters as well as younger populations in urban areas. It aims to cement itself as the foremost jihadist organization in the region, in part by seizing the legacy of jihadist groups that came before it. ISIS-K’s general strategy is to establish a beachhead for the Islamic State movement to expand its so-called caliphate to Central and South Asia. Some experts have placed those figures in excess of US$100 million. Substantial evidence shows that the group has received money, advice, and training from the Islamic State group’s core organizational body in Iraq and Syria. ISIS-K used its position on the border to garner supplies and recruits from Pakistan’s tribal areas, as well as the expertise of other local groups with which it forged operational alliances. ISIS-K first started to consolidate territory in the southern districts of Nangarhar province, which sits on Afghanistan’s northeast border with Pakistan and is the site of al-Qaida’s former stronghold in the Tora Bora area. One of the group’s greatest strengths is its ability to leverage the local expertise of these fighters and commanders. Over time, though, the group has poached militants from various other groups. ISIS-K was founded by former members of the Pakistani Taliban, Afghan Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Can you tell us a little more about the group’s background? But after suffering major territorial, leadership and rank-and-file losses to the U.S.-led coalition and its Afghan partners – which culminated in the surrender of over 1,400 of its fighters and their families to the Afghan government in late 2019 and early 2020 – the organization was declared, by some, to be defeated.