While ISIS blamed a hitherto unidentified Russian wing for the carnage, the U.S. S. had received intelligence about two weeks prior indicating that ISIS-Khorasan, also known as ISIS-K, the Afghan affiliate, was preparing an attack in Russia.
Around the same time, Russian officials announced that they had foiled a second ISIS-K plot that was intended to target a Moscow synagogue.
Four men, who were dragged in front of a judge this week with obvious signs of serious beatings, and who had been named by Russia as suspects in the concert hall attack, were reportedly Tajikistani nationals.
That nation borders Afghanistan directly on the north, and a large number of ISIS-K fighters are thought to be Tajik nationals.
Moscow has therefore renewed concerns about the pledge made by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to stop the country from once again becoming a haven for terrorist groups to plot attacks around the world, even as Kyiv and Washington deny any truth to Moscow’s unfounded accusations against Ukraine and the lack of any conclusive evidence linking the concert hall attack to ISIS’ Afghan franchise.
What is the relationship between ISIS-K and the Taliban?
Numerous terrorist organizations were active in Afghanistan prior to and during the lengthy U.S. s. and the presence of allied forces militarily in the nation.
However, a large number of those extremist organizations have stopped operating in the nation since the Taliban reclaimed power almost three years ago.
However, not ISIS-K.
By indiscriminately killing people, it has persisted in not just operating but also exerting great effort to undermine the Taliban’s power.
These are both extremist Islamic groups that the United States has classified as terrorist organizations. s. government, however the philosophies and objectives of the Taliban and ISIS-K diverge, and they are engaged in hostilities.
For over twenty years, the Taliban’s objective has been to overthrow Afghanistan’s U. s. -backed government and to impose once more its strict definition of what a “pure Islamic” nation ought to be.
That’s what it has accomplished.
However, ISIS-K is regarded as one of the more visibly dangerous factions within the now worldwide network that emerged from the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
Along the Pakistani border, the Afghan branch was established in 2015.
Its objectives include spreading its terror activities throughout the globe and establishing an Islamic caliphate in the area (as it did for a number of years in portions of Syria and Iraq).
In recent years, ISIS-K has carried out prominent assaults on Taliban representatives in Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of several significant individuals as well as bystanders.
The group attacked Taliban employees who had gathered outside a bank to withdraw their salaries with a suicide bombing just last week in the province of Kandahar.
More than 190 major city suicide bombings, with approximately 1,300 casualties, have been attributed to ISIS-K, according to United Nations data released last year.
ISIS-K can be stopped by the Taliban?
The Taliban, who are now back in control of Afghanistan, are a strong military force, helped by weapons that the U.S. S. and allied forces as they hurriedly withdrew in 2021.
According to analysts, the Taliban has fought ISIS-K with some tenacity and has lessened the threat posed by its adversary inside the nation.
However, experts and UN envoys claim that a string of attacks and thwarted plots in Europe, Russia, and Iran that have been linked to ISIS-K raise serious questions about the Taliban’s willingness or capacity to stop the group’s activities outside of Afghanistan.
Asfandyar Mir, a South Asia security expert with the United States Institute of Peace, told CBS News that “the Taliban have been fighting ISIS-K inside Afghanistan, undoubtedly, because ISIS-K is the main armed opposition to their rule.”.
But he added that the ISIS affiliate’s “plotting in Europe, the attack in Kerman, Iran, and now the Moscow attack, raise serious questions over the efficacy of the Taliban’s ability to degrade ISIS-K’s external attack capability. “.
The monitoring team for the UN Security Council stated in January that the Taliban’s efforts to counter ISIS-K “seem to be more focused on the internal threat posed to them than the external operations of the group.”. “.”.
Has ISIS also gained a victory with the return of the Taliban?
Just one year after taking back control of Afghanistan, the Taliban made good on their pledge to the U.S. s. challenged directly the clause intended to stop terrorist organizations from using the nation as a base, which was inserted into the withdrawal deal mediated by the Trump administration in 2020.
Top Al Qaeda figure Ayman Al Zawahiri was assassinated by a U.S. S. drone attack at the end of July 2022 in Kabul’s diplomatic district.
In Afghanistan, under the Taliban, Al Qaeda seems to be expanding amid the turbulent U. S. Following their exit from the nation the year before, Taliban forces released thousands of prisoners, including.
After the devastating terrorist attack on March 22 in a crowded concert hall in the Moscow suburbs, suspicions fell swiftly on the ISIS branch operating in Afghanistan, thrusting the country back into the public eye. ISIS claimed credit for the devastation to a previously unidentified Russian wing, but the U.S. s. had alerted about two weeks prior to information indicating that ISIS-Khorasan, also known as ISIS-K, an Afghan affiliate, was preparing an attack in Russia.
Around the same time, Russian officials announced that they had foiled another ISIS-K plot that was intended to target a Moscow synagogue.
Four men, who were dragged in front of a judge this week with obvious signs of serious beatings, and who had been named by Russia as suspects in the concert hall attack, were reportedly Tajikistani nationals. Many of the fighters of ISIS-K are thought to be Tajik nationals, as that nation is located directly on Afghanistan’s northern border.
Thus, while Moscow directs accusations toward Ukraine that both Kyiv and Washington deny, and no concrete connection has been made between the concert hall attack and ISIS’s Afghan branch, it has stoked new worries regarding the pledge made by the Taliban government of Afghanistan to keep the nation from ever again serving as a safe haven for terrorist organizations planning global attacks.
What is the relationship between ISIS-K and the Taliban?
Numerous terrorist organizations were active in Afghanistan prior to and during the lengthy U.S. s. and the military presence of allies inside the nation. However, a large number of those extremist organizations have stopped operating in the nation since the Taliban reclaimed power almost three years ago.
however, not ISIS-K. It has persisted in not just functioning but also exerting great effort, through indiscriminate killing, to undermine and question the legitimacy of the Taliban.
Both are extremist Islamic groups that the United States has classified as terrorist organizations. s. government, but there are ideological and strategic differences between the Taliban and ISIS-K, and they are engaged in hostilities.
For over twenty years, the Taliban’s objective has been to overthrow Afghanistan’s U.S. S. -backed administration and to reinstate its strict definition of what a nation that is “pure Islamic” ought to be. That’s what it has accomplished.
However, ISIS-K is regarded as one of the more visibly dangerous factions within the now worldwide network that emerged from the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. In 2015, the Afghan branch was established near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Its goal is to become the center of an Islamic caliphate in the region (as it was in parts of Syria and Iraq for a number of years) and to carry out more terror attacks globally.
ISIS-K has carried out well-publicized attacks against Taliban officials in Afghanistan during the last few years, killing both civilians and some significant figures. The group targeted Taliban employees who had gathered outside a bank to withdraw their salaries in a suicide attack that was carried out just last week in the province of Kandahar.
More than 190 major city suicide bombings, with approximately 1,300 casualties, have been attributed to ISIS-K, according to United Nations data released last year.
Would or could the Taliban defeat ISIS-K?
The Taliban, who are now back in control of Afghanistan, are a strong military force, helped by weapons that the U.S. S. and the allied forces during their hurried withdrawal in 2021. Analysts claim that the Taliban has fought ISIS-K with some tenacity and that this has allowed it to lessen the threat that its rival poses to the nation.
However, observers and UN envoys claim that a string of attacks and thwarted plots in Europe, Russia, and Iran that have been linked to ISIS-K raise serious questions about the Taliban’s willingness or capacity to rein in the group’s activities outside of Afghanistan.
Asfandyar Mir, a South Asia security specialist with the United States Institute of Peace, told CBS News that “the Taliban have been fighting ISIS-K inside Afghanistan, undoubtedly, because ISIS-K is the main armed opposition to their rule.”.
However, he went on to say that the ISIS affiliate’s “plotting in Europe, the attack in Kerman, Iran, and now the attack in Moscow, raise serious questions over the efficacy of the Taliban’s ability to degrade ISIS-K’s external attack capability.”. “.
In January, the monitoring team of the UN Security Council observed that the Taliban’s efforts to counter ISIS-K “seem to be more focused on the internal threat posed to them than the external operations of the group.”. “.
Is ISIS also celebrating its victory now that the Taliban are back?
Not even a year after the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan, the group’s pledge to the U.S. s. — included in the exit deal mediated by the Trump administration in 2020 — to stop terrorist organizations from utilizing the nation as a base, was sharply contested.
Chief Al Qaeda figure Ayman Al Zawahiri was assassinated by a U.S. s. End of July 2022 drone strike in Kabul’s diplomatic district.
The Taliban seem to be allowing Al Qaeda to expand in Afghanistan.
At the tumultuous U. s. Following their departure from the nation the year before, Taliban forces released thousands of detainees, many of whom were ISIS-K fighters. Those militants had easy access to weapons and freedom of movement amidst the chaos and lack of military air power.
According to Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, “we have seen, in recent months, indications of a growing capacity to project threats far beyond its bastions in Afghanistan,” as reported by CBS News. “ISIS-K shares an ideological commitment to global activities with the parent Islamic State and other regional affiliates. All that remained was for the will to align with the capacity, and it appears that ISIS-K has now made that transition. “.
France’s Interior Ministry said that two ISIS-K attempts to attack an LGBTQ nightclub and Jewish or Christian religious sites had been foiled, raising the country’s national security threat level to its highest level on Monday.
Kugelman told CBS News that the group “clearly has the capacity to threaten countries in many parts of the world.”. “A number of factors, including the amount of support it receives from the parent Islamic State, its capacity to secure funding, the quantity of foreign fighters it is able to enlist, and the degree to which the international community works to counter this expanding, global ISIS-K threat, will determine how much more it can develop an external targeting capacity. “.
Following the attack in Moscow, Samantha Vinograd, a CBS News contributor and former counterterrorism official for the Department of Homeland Security under the Biden and Obama administrations, said on “Face the Nation” that ISIS “has retained its ability to conduct operations, largely through regional affiliates like ISIS-K,” despite losing territory and leadership. ****.
“We’ve witnessed ISIS-K attack American interests outside the airport in Kabul during the evacuation, as well as attack the Russian Embassy in Kabul in 2022 and expand their operations’ geographic reach,” she stated. It is also known that ISIS will use its regional allies to target its targets in the West. And based on my experience advising the Secretary of Homeland Security, I can tell you that we took certain actions to lessen the threat that ISIS-K posed to the country and to American interests. ****.
In addition to highlighting the value of intelligence-based screening as one of the best defenses against the ongoing ISIS-K threat, Vinograd expressed concern that “we’re under-resourced in terms of having the information available to make really informed vetting decisions” in this area. Our exits from Afghanistan and Iraq have resulted in the loss of some intelligence capabilities. ****.
The majority of ISIS-K’s training grounds and strongholds are dispersed throughout the northern, eastern, and northeastern regions of Afghanistan, the U. N. stated in 2023 that “at least five new ones built in 2022,” according to the monitoring team. “.”.
To put it plainly, the Taliban asserts that it has eliminated the threat posed by ISIS-K and that its forces regularly target the leaders and hideouts of the organization.
“ISIS-K is no longer a threat in Afghanistan. In the past, during occupation of Afghanistan by U. S. Suhail Shaheen, the head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, told CBS News that while ISIS-K and other allied forces were physically present in some of the areas they controlled in Afghanistan, that is no longer the case.
Contributing to this story was Tucker Reals of CBS News.
