Militants from China, Russia, Syria, and Central Asia Undergo Training at Bases in Afghanistan
Author: Andrei Serenko, Special Correspondent for “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”
A coordination center for foreign jihadists who have arrived in Afghanistan from China, Russia, Syria, and Central Asia has been established in Kabul. This center is controlled by the Afghan Taliban’s security services, which have managed to unite representatives of major jihadist groups on a single infrastructural platform. Uyghur militant groups play a key role in the Kabul coordination center.
Informed sources report that since at least September 2025, a base for foreign jihadist fighters has been operating in Kabul’s Shashdarak district. The commander of the base is Suhail Muhajir, an ethnic Uyghur originally from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Under his command are foreign fighters, primarily Chinese Uyghurs and natives of Uzbekistan. The number of militants at the base fluctuates, but the core group of 15–20 fighters remains constant.
The Shashdarak base is under the personal supervision of Abdul Haq Wasiq, the head of Afghanistan’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI). (Incidentally, the main GDI headquarters is located in the same district of Kabul.) The Chief of the General Staff of the Taliban army, Qari Fasihuddin Fitrat, oversees the activities of the Shashdarak base, acting as the coordinator with Taliban structures primarily in northern Afghanistan. It is worth noting that Qari Fasihuddin, a native of Badakhshan, is considered the “king” of Afghan Badakhshan: the province borders Tajikistan, China, and Pakistan simultaneously and is of great importance for the regional terrorist infrastructure.
The base in Kabul’s Shashdarak is closely linked to foreign jihadist groups deployed in Afghanistan’s northern provinces, particularly Badakhshan and Baghlan. Uyghur militants from China’s Xinjiang region also play a leading role in these groups. In Afghan Badakhshan, sources emphasize the figure of Abdur Rahman Muhajir, an ethnic Uyghur, a native of East Turkestan (China), who has been in Afghanistan for several years and is an active participant in the regional jihadist network. Abdur Rahman Muhajir serves as the deputy to Sheikh Zakir, the military leader of the “Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan” (IMU), a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation.
Abdur Rahman Muhajir plays an important role in supplying foreign militants in northern Afghanistan. He frequently travels in Badakhshan, where he purchases weapons, ammunition, and equipment for jihadist fighters. For example, in September of this year, Muhajir once again visited Badakhshan’s districts and the Khostak Valley, where he bought a large shipment of various weapons, ammunition, and gear. The Taliban authorities not only did not obstruct these operations but openly supported him: the acquired stockpile was stored at the home of Zahirullah, deputy financial officer of a Taliban border brigade in Qala-i-Tak in the Baharak district.
One of the largest military bases of foreign jihadists is located in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan, where Abdur Rahman Muhajir lives with his family. It is situated in the Karkar Gorge and occupies an area of approximately 1,000 square meters. The base hosts the headquarters of Uyghur and Uzbek militant leaders—Haji Furqan, the military leader of the “Islamic Movement of East Turkestan” (IMET), a terrorist organization banned in Russia, and Zakir, the head of the IMU. Qari Siraj, the deputy of Haji Furqan, the head of the base’s logistics service, Qari Zaid, and key commanders Jaafar, Salahuddin, and Haji Salman also spend much of their time there.
According to sources, workshops for assembling and repairing strike drones operate at the Karkar base, alongside warehouses containing weapons and ammunition. There is also a special “jihadist school” for training suicide attackers. About a month and a half ago, recruiters from the Karkar base launched a large-scale recruitment campaign among Afghan Taliban fighters in the northern provinces (ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks) and have already enlisted around 500 people.
The leaders of the Uyghur–Uzbek-run base in Karkar pay particular attention to expanding their influence in northern Afghanistan. The Uyghur Faruq Muhajir is responsible for the Badakhshan direction (he also conducts daily one-hour online training sessions for foreign militants), Zakir oversees the Kunduz area, and Qari Zaid is responsible for Baghlan (he also manages the payment of allowances to all recruits of the base). The logistics of the base are provided by Qari Fasihuddin, the Chief of the General Staff of the Taliban army.
Overall, foreign militants are deeply integrated into the structures of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. In November 2025, it became known that more than 400 Uyghur, Uzbek, and Tajik mujahideen—members of various terrorist organizations—had been deployed within Taliban military units in Badakhshan Province. It is reliably confirmed that hundreds of armed militants from China’s Xinjiang region, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are now stationed in border battalions and in the 3rd “Omari” Division of the Taliban army.
Many of these militants had taken part in recent armed clashes with the Pakistani army, after which they were returned to their permanent bases in the provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan, and Kunduz. Sources also report that 74 suicide attackers trained at the Karkar base were sent from Baghlan to Kandahar on the orders of Haji Furqan to participate in operations against Pakistan.
On November 5, a meeting took place at one of the guest residences in Kabul’s Shashdarak district between the leaders of major foreign jihadist groups and the head of the Afghan Taliban’s intelligence service, Abdul Haq Wasiq. Participants included Mullah Talha representing the Pakistani Taliban, Uyghur militant leader Haji Furqan, Zakir, Jaafar representing the terrorist organization “Jamaat Ansarullah” (banned in the Russian Federation), Abdul Haq Uyghuri—a representative of the Afghanistan branch of the terrorist organization “Islamic State” (banned in the Russian Federation)—as well as about 30 operatives from the intelligence and propaganda units of the Uyghur-led IMET.
The meeting also discussed, among other issues, the possibility of joint operations against Tajikistan by militants of “Jamaat Ansarullah” and the Pakistani Taliban, supported by Uyghur jihadists. The participants considered spring 2026 the optimal time for carrying out such operations.
