A confidential intelligence report shows the presence of hundreds of ISIS members, including foreigners, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Author: Mukhtar Vafai,
Source: Independent Farsi
Despite widespread Taliban propaganda to suppress ISIS-Khorasan and contain the group's threat in Afghanistan, ISIS continues to attack civilians, and the Taliban and attempts to attract and recruit more forces.
An 80-page confidential and secret report from an organ of the Taliban regime, shared by a reliable source with Independent Farsi, reveals that people from India, Turkey, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, and Chechnya are active in the ranks of ISIS-Khorasan in Afghanistan.
According to a list of senior ISIS-Khorasan members included in the document, the group's ranks include people from various countries and are centered in Nangarhar, Kunar, Takhar, Jawzjan, Kunduz, Badakhshan, Kabul, and parts of Pakistan.
According to this document, 54 citizens of Pakistan, seven citizens of Tajikistan, one citizen of Iran, three citizens of Chechnya, five citizens of China, four citizens of India, and one citizen of Turkey were identified in the ranks of ISIS-Khorasan.
The exact number of ISIS-Khorasan members who came to Afghanistan from other countries and joined the group is unknown. Zia Siraj, head of national security of the previous Afghan government, said in May 2021 that his department had arrested 407 citizens from 14 countries, including Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, and the Maldives, on charges of collaboration with and membership in ISIS Khorasan and are being held in Afghan prisons. With the fall of the previous Afghan government and the Taliban entering the cities and opening the prison doors, these men and other ISIS members in Khorasan were released.
Foreign nationals who are members of ISIS-Khorasan are active in various provinces of Afghanistan and some of them are also present in insecure areas of Pakistan, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. For example, of the four Indian members of ISIS in Khorasan, one of whom is a woman, one is active in Pakistan and the other three are active in Herat.
In addition, of the four Chechens, two are stationed in Afghanistan and two in Pakistan, but their military responsibility is inside Afghanistan and they may be in regular communication between the two countries.
The report also includes the names of about 300 senior members of ISIS-Khorasan and states that most of its activities are carried out in eastern, central, and northern Afghanistan. Meanwhile, in different areas of Kabul, the places of activity of dozens of these people are mentioned. Butkhak, Bagrami, Paghman, Arzan Qimat, Qartae Naw, Kampani, and Khairkhana in Kabul are among the areas with the largest number of ISIS-Khorasan members. Over the past two years, the Taliban have carried out several operations in the mentioned areas and have claimed that ISIS-Khorasan commanders and members have been killed in them.
In February this year, the Taliban said Ejaz Amin Ahangar, a key ISIS-Khorasan commander, was killed during the group's operation in the Kartae Naw area of Kabul. Ejaz Amin Ahangar was an Indian citizen and led Indian members of ISIS-Khorasan. In late February, the Taliban announced the death of Qari Fateh, one of the other key ISIS-Khorasan commanders, in the Khairkhana area of Kabul. In early May, Taliban regime forces said they had killed Engineer Omar, the head of the ISIS-Khorasan network in Kabul's Butkhak district. Also in July, the Taliban's intelligence propaganda arm Al-Mursad said that a man named Najib, who led ISIS in Nimroz, was killed in an operation in Bagrami, Kabul.
Last week, on November 29, Al-Mursad said that 12 ISIS-Khorasan leaders have been killed this year as a result of operations by the Taliban's intelligence agency. It is worth noting that the Taliban have repeatedly killed Afghan civilians and former soldiers as “members of ISIS” in various cities of Afghanistan.
About a month ago, the Taliban shot three young men on the outskirts of Mazari Sharif, and the group's security forces said that they were members of ISIS. Reports received by Independent Farsi from relatives of the victims and sources in Mazar-i-Sharif indicate that the dead were Afghan civilians named Ahmad Fahim, Asadullah, and Isa Khan, who were returning from a wedding ceremony from the city of Shaberghan to Mazari Sharif but were killed by personnel of a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city due to ignoring warnings from Taliban forces.
Haji Zaid, spokesman for the Taliban governor in Balkh, in a post published on Channel X (formerly Twitter), identified the victims of the incident as those sent to Afghanistan from India and Tajikistan for operations and said that cash was seized from them 50 thousand US dollars and several weapons. This statement was made while there were no signs of weapons or money in the videos and photographs of the murder scene of these men.
Similar incidents have occurred in other cities in Afghanistan over the past two years, including Kabul, Herat, and areas in the east of the country. Due to the tight restrictions imposed by the Taliban on the media, as well as the targeted content published by media outlets controlled by the group, the exact number and information on Afghan civilians and former soldiers killed by the Taliban for alleged collaboration with ISIS are not available.
Last year, Human Rights Watch reported in a research report that people were being massacred in eastern Afghanistan for alleged ISIS membership. This report stated that people with Salafi beliefs were killed in a variety of ways without proving their affiliation with ISIS. Some of these people were hanged from trees at night, while others were thrown into a water canal with stones tied to their bodies.
On the other hand, ISIS-Khorasan has pursued and killed several Taliban officials and senior commanders in suicide attacks over the past two years as an act of revenge. Mawlawi Dawood Mozammil, who was the Taliban governor of Nangarhar in 2021 and 2022, was killed in an ISIS suicide attack in March this year while he was serving as the governor of Balkh.
Apart from these cases, a large number of people are also in Taliban prisons on charges of being members of ISIS.
In recent months, several diplomats from different countries have spoken about the Taliban's fight against ISIS. Among other things, a diplomat from the Islamic Republic of Iran said at a November 23 meeting in Moscow with the participation of the Taliban opposition that the Taliban dealt a serious blow to ISIS-Khorasan and weakened the group.
US officials also met several times in Doha with Abdulhaq Wasiq, head of the Taliban's intelligence agency, praising the Taliban's actions against ISIS-Khorasan. US President Joe Biden said in July this year that the US had received help from the Taliban in the fight against al-Qaeda. Although Biden has not said anything about the possibility of US involvement in the war between the Taliban and ISIS, it is said that US military institutions are providing financial and technical support to Taliban military institutions in the fight against ISIS.
However, ISIS-Khorasan remains a potential threat in Afghanistan, with part of its primary goal being to infiltrate and carry out disruptive attacks in Central Asia and China. In its online journals, ISIS-Khorasan recently emphasized the need to launch an attack on Chinese interests in Afghanistan and, criticizing China's cooperation with the Taliban, threatened the country's authorities that they would avenge Uyghur Muslims in Chinese prisons.
Last December, two operatives from ISIS-Khorasan attacked the residence of Chinese citizens in Kabul, injuring five Chinese citizens and killing three Afghan citizens.
Even though the Taliban dominates throughout Afghanistan and not a single village in the country is under the control of the group's opponents, ISIS-Khorasan has managed to attract a large force of mostly young people to its side. There are varying reports on the number of ISIS fighters in Khorasan, indicating different information and perceptions in different countries. Russian authorities estimate the number of ISIS fighters in Khorasan to be around 6,000, but UN Security Council experts estimate the number at around 2,500.
