In 2015, the ISIS-Khorasan terrorist organization was established in Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of the Islamic State’s expansion beyond Syria and Iraq. The organization’s name comes from the Persian word for the region of Khorasan, which includes parts of several countries in the area. Its propaganda, translated into various regional languages as well as English, promises to create a caliphate in the region. Despite the Taliban’s victory and the reemergence of the Islamic Emirate in 2021, ISIS-Khorasan continues to have a presence in Afghanistan. Currently, the terrorist organization’s main bases are in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, as well as in some southern regions of Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
Since taking power, the Taliban has been working to gain international recognition and establish relations with governments that ISIS-Khorasan accuses of being authoritarian or repressive towards Muslims. These policies have enabled ISIS-Khorasan to present itself as a more dedicated and uncompromising Islamic force in the region, despite the 2020 Doha agreement signed by the Taliban and the United States. ISIS-Khorasan has accused the Taliban of abandoning jihad and positioned itself as the true jihadist group, allowing it to remain relevant and gain an advantage in its propaganda war against the Taliban. As ISIS-Khorasan strives to demonstrate itself as a true champion of jihad, it presents itself as an unwavering opponent of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
As evident from the official statement released by ISIS-Khorasan after the March 2024 terrorist attack in Moscow, the Taliban has faced severe criticism for its relationships with the United States, Russia, and China, as well as other countries. This 30-page document dedicates a significant amount of space to criticism and mocking the Taliban in Afghanistan. There is also widespread concern among Taliban officials regarding ISIS-Khorasan surprise attacks. On March 27, 2024, the Department of Planning and Operations of the Kabul Provincial Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Afghanistan published a letter regarding the ISIS-Khorasan threat.
Afghanistan is identified as a significant base for ISIS-Khorasan. Reports indicate that this organization has planned attacks in Europe and Asia and has been involved in an “ambitious conspiracy” against the United States. It is suggested that ISIS-Khorasan has developed a cost-effective strategy for external operations, relying on resources from outside Afghanistan and operatives in target countries, as well as extensive assistance networks. This strategy enables them to overcome obstacles, such as competent security forces, and reduce the time required to prepare operations, thus minimizing the chances of detection and interference.
ISIS-Khorasan is in the process of setting up a regional network of militant cells to carry out international terrorist attacks. This network is based on information obtained from dozens of senior militants who have been detained over the past two years. According to the report, 90% of ISIS Khorasan’s personnel are no longer Pashtun. At the domestic level, ISIS Khorasan has increased its operational capacity within Afghanistan, and the total number of its members and associates is estimated to be between 4,000 and 6,000. ISIS’s attacks have become more sophisticated, targeting both the Taliban and other international targets.
The terrorists’ activities and successes in Pakistan are enabled by the ineffective actions of its military, which is unable to prevent the threat of radicalism within the country and the region. Some conservative circles within the Pakistani army support radical extremists and terrorists, while the modernist faction of the Taliban is trying to improve relations with countries in the region and great powers. However, certain threats still persist.
So, at the end of March five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver were killed in the suicide bombing as their bus was attacked in the Bisham city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistani Province. They were travelling between Islamabad and a hydroelectric dam construction site in the province. The attack had prompted China to demand a thorough probe into the deadly blast and security for its citizens. In response, Islamabad had announced a swift probe to hold the “perpetrators and accomplices” accountable. After a joint investigation team was formed to probe the incident, action was ordered against five senior police officials. No group has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on Chinese nationals.
The Pakistani Army’s Inter Services Public Relations said that the planning for the attack was done in Afghanistan and the suicide bomber was also its national. “Terrorists and their facilitators were also being controlled from Afghanistan and the suicide bomber was also an Afghan national,” the ISPR had stated. He had also listed other terror incidents, including by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), that he said continued from Afghan soil despite repeated complaints to the neighbor’s rulers.
The Afghan defense ministry rejected Pakistan’s claim that the plot to kill five Chinese engineers in the Bisham attack was hatched in Afghanistan. In a statement issued today, Afghan defense ministry spokesperson Enayatullah Khwarazmi termed the claims “irresponsible and far from the reality”. He said blaming Afghanistan for such incidents was a “failed attempt to divert attention from the truth”, adding that the killing of Chinese citizens in an area which was “under tight security cover of the Pakistani army shows the weakness of the Pakistani security agencies”. “The Islamic Emirate has assured China on this matter and the country has also understood the fact that Afghans are not involved in such issues,” the spokesman said. He claimed that members of the militant Islamic State group were “entering Afghanistan from Pakistan”. “We have much evidence of Daesh (IS-Khorasan) who came to Afghanistan from the territory of Pakistan, and Pakistan’s territory being used against us for which Pakistan should answer,” Khwarazmi said. He added that Kabul considered the stability and security of Pakistan to be in the interest of Afghanistan and the region and believed in the “brotherhood and good relations between the people of the two nations.
