On Thursday, local time, a suicide terrorist attack occurred outside the gates of the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of at least 73 people, including 13 US military personnel. Subsequently, the extremist terrorist group IS declared responsible for the attack. U.S. President Joe Biden also vowed revenge in a subsequent speech. He also mentioned the name of an extremist group: ISIS-K. In his speech that day, Biden said the United States would strike facilities at ISIS-K affiliates operating in South and Central Asia "at the locations we choose, at the moments we choose," and that "we will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay." So, what kind of organization is this extremist terrorist organization ISIS-K?
In 2019, is an IS member who surrendered
Who is ISIS-K? Where did it come from?
The extremist terrorist group ISIS-K/IS-K, which, as the name suggests, has sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) and is primarily active in Khorasan Province in eastern Afghanistan. In 2015, while the extremist group Islamic State quickly seized territory in Iraq and Syria, militants saw ISIS-K as a sword to conquer South and Central Asia in the future.
According to RT, the first commander of the group was Pakistani Hafez Sayyid Khan. Abdel Raough Aliza, a former Taliban member and Guantanamo prisoner, was appointed Khan's deputy. Abdul Raough Aliza and Hafez Saeed Khan died in 2015 and 2016, respectively, in U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan. The current leader of ISIS-K is Shahab al-Muhajir, reportedly the mid-level commander of the "Haqqani Network," an Afghan rebel force linked to the Taliban that the United States has identified as a terrorist organization.
The terrorist organization has been active
According to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, ISIS-K launched nearly 100 attacks on civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan between 2017 and 2018, in addition to about 250 clashes with U.S., Afghan and Pakistani security forces. And since June 2020, ISIS-K has "continued to be active" under its ambitious new leader, Shahab al-Muhajir, according to the UN report.
Last year, the group claimed responsibility for the attack on the Kabul University compound and fired rockets at the presidential palace in the Afghan capital and at Hamid Karzai International Airport. The group is also accused of attacking the maternity ward of a MSF organization in Kabul. In January, Afghan security officials said they had arrested several ISIS-K members who had conspired to assassinate Rose Wilson, a senior U.S. diplomat in Kabul.
After suffering some territorial losses in recent years, ISIS-K has a core group of about 1,500 to 2,200 militants, which in turn has been dispersed into smaller groups, the United Nations reported in June. However, some experts say the number could rise to 10,000 in the coming years. The U.N. wrote that the group maintains contact with ISIS-K and is "active on social media, taking into account the post-U.S. military withdrawal period."
IS members who surrendered
What is its relationship with the Taliban?
Due to ideological differences and fierce competition for territory in Khorasan and elsewhere, the Taliban and ISIS-K are regional enemies. U.S. intelligence officials believe some of the new members recruited by ISIS-K are defectors of the Taliban.
The Taliban occupied much of Afghanistan and Kabul on August 15, having clashed with ISIS-K in the past. Earlier this year, the Taliban claimed to have eliminated all islamic State presence in the northern province of Juzjan. In recent weeks, it has also occupied the ISIS-K-controlled Northwest Territories. In the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, hundreds of Isis-K militants surrendered to the Taliban.
In addition, some media revealed that shortly after the fall of the Afghan capital, militants executed Abu Omar Horazani, the imprisoned former South Asian leader of the Islamic State. However, this news was not confirmed.
Western governments now fear a comeback amid the chaos caused by the Taliban takeover, which coincides with the hasty withdrawal of U.S. troops. The group is allegedly trying to expand its ranks in Kabul, where Western allies are doing their best to evacuate.
Why are Western countries concerned about ISIS-K?
Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, had previously said the risk of Isis-K's attack on Kabul airports was "real, serious" and "persistent." Sullivan told CNN, "This is something we're doing our best to focus on." However, he did not provide further details on what kind of attack Isis-K might plan, but U.S. officials told The New York Times that it could take the form of firing missiles at evacuation planes.