Despite the fact that the Afghan government has repeatedly announced the destruction and defeat of ISIS in different regions of the country; But carrying out bloody terrorist attacks and accepting the responsibility of these attacks by ISIS shows that this group has not been completely eradicated or destroyed in Afghanistan. ISIS activities in Afghanistan in a serious way; But there is a secret going on. The intensification of the war in the north and the possibility of the involvement of various terrorist groups in Central Asia, which have not been able to grow so much due to lack of financial resources, is a capacity for the promotion of ISIS. The ISIS terrorist group, which has more regional and global relations than other terrorist groups in the region, is a possibility to finance other terrorist groups with the money that will be collected from the external branches of this group.
The growth of terrorist groups in recent years indicates a new approach to security and intelligence issues in the region and the world. The approach or the rapid expansion of the ISIS group in the region, especially in Syria and Iraq, indicates that terrorist movements no longer take place in a traditional and domestic format; Bel, who has a desire for the process of globalization and overseas recruitment; The approach that has been called postmodern terrorism due to the expansion of the field of recruitment and unbridled violence. Groups like ISIS, which is born from the flow of cyber information, use these communication facilities today, with cross-border activities, and they carry out part of their war through cyber communication.
Cyber communication and the possibility of psychological propaganda by this group have provided the ground for people from different parts of the world to join this group and see it as a way to vent their accumulated violence, which is the result of the crisis of meaning in today's world.This terrorist group, which has spread throughout the Middle East today, has become the subject of new developments and concerns throughout this region.
Western and Middle Eastern countries are very concerned about the expansion of ISIS and similar terrorist groups.The roots of the ISIS organization in the Middle East go back to the Al-Qaeda group in Iraq. This group is intellectually derived from the extreme thoughts of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. After 2006, when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the main founder of ISIS in the Middle East, was killed by American attacks and the intelligence of the Iraqi government, Abu Ayub al-Masri assumed the leadership of this terrorist group.
In 2010, Abu Ayyub was also killed by a joint attack by Iraqi and American forces. ISIS is formed from Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which includes the "Mujahideen" and "Jundal Sahaba" councils. In 2010, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, known as Abu Dao in Iraq, emerged as the new leader of the ISIS terrorist group and assumed leadership of the group. In April 2013, he officially announced the emergence of this terrorist group with the slogan and flag of ISIS.
Baghdadi's influence went beyond the domain of ISIS and caused it to include groups outside of Iraq; In such a way that it was even opposed by the leadership of Al-Qaeda. ISIS is a jihadist group in the Middle East that operates outside of Al-Qaeda's control. This group has its own teachings and forces. After the revelation of ISIS by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, he officially announced his separation from al-Qaeda and called himself the Caliph of Muslims.
The formation or emergence of ISIS in AfghanistanIn 2014, Hafiz Saeed Khan, who was one of the commanders of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, announced the emergence of the ISIS branch of Khorasan or the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq in Nangarhar province. In the same year, he announced his allegiance and support to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi through a telephone conversation. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Daesh, officially appointed Hafiz Saeed as the governor of Khorasan branch of Daesh. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was rich in Iraq's oil and oil revenues, donated about 250 million US dollars to the Khorasan branch of the ISIS group. This amount of financial assistance was later confirmed by the US intelligence and the Afghan national security. With Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's financial assistance to Hafez Saeed Khan, the leader of this group, ISIS enabled the Khorasan branch to speed up and expand its group by buying ammunition and weapons from the black market.
ISIS's Khorasan branch, with propaganda wars through video and audio messages, was able to attract other foreign groups, including Uzbekistan's Hizb-ul-Tahrir, Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Haqqani network, and other terrorist groups in the region. The expansion of the Khorasan branch of ISIS in eastern Afghanistan penetrated to the northern provinces of Afghanistan until 2016.
The year 2016 was the peak of recruitment of the Khorasan branch of ISIS in Afghanistan, which had recruited more than four thousand soldiers.With the increasing recruitment of Daesh, a small group began to operate in Darzab district of Jawzjan under the command of Mullah Khattab and Qari Hekmat. Mullah Khattab and Qari Hekmat were killed by the American attack in 2018 and they were replaced by Maulvi Habib al-Rahman Uzbek. With the arrival of Habib al-Rahman Uzbek, who was one of the commanders of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, this network was able to recruit most of its soldiers from the extremists of Uzbekistan, Chechnya, Tajikistan, and Kazakhs.
The members of this group were mostly active in Badakhshan, Kunduz and Jawzjan. The areas under the activity of ISIS were the Khorasan branch, the provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar, Laghman, Jawzjan, Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz, Sarpol, and the Hindu Kush mountains.
Hostage and ISIS terrorist attacks in Afghanistan
In April 2013, ISIS group took 31 passengers hostage in Zabul Province, and a few months later, seven of them beheaded.On the 3rd of Asad 2013, Abdul Rahman Mozmal, one of the Taliban commanders who had joined the ISIS terrorist group, killed 13 Hazara civilians from passenger cars.
On 2nd of Asad 2016, the attack on the protestors of the Enlightenment movement at the intersection of Dehmzang left more than 80 dead and 300 wounded. ISIS also took responsibility for this terrorist attack.On the 5th of Scorpio 2015, the ISIS branch in Ghor kidnapped 30 travelers and killed 26 of them.On the 17th of Jadi 2015, forces affiliated with the ISIS group shot 13 mining workers, all of whom were Hazaras, in Tale and Barfak district of Baghlan province.On 20 Mizan 1395, some ISIS attackers attacked the Ashura ceremony at Karte Sakhi shrine in Kabul. In this attack, 18 people were killed and 58 people were injured.
One day after this attack, a roadside mine hit a car carrying Ashurai mourners in Balkh district of Balkh province, leaving 14 dead and 70 injured.On the 1st of 2015 - Imam Hussain's fortieth in the Tishigh religion - a suicide bomber killed 40 and injured 90 among the mourners in the Baghral Uloom Mosque in Kabul.
An attack organized by ISIS.ISIS suicide attack during the Ashura mourning ceremony in Fathullah Fort, Kabul, on the 5th of Mizan 1396, left five dead and 20 injured.On 18 August 2016, a suicide attack at the anniversary ceremony of Abdul Ali Mazari, the leader of the Hazaras, left 9 dead and 18 injured.On 28 Mizan 1396, a suicide bomber targeted worshipers at the Imam Zaman Mosque in the west of Kabul, killing 56 people and injuring 55 others.One month later - 30 Qos -, the attack on the library of al-Mahdi town in Jibril city of Herat, according to eyewitnesses, left five dead and 15 wounded.A week later - 7th Jedi - ISIS attack on Tebayan cultural center left 52 dead and 90 wounded.Two months later, 30 people were killed and 58 others were injured in an attack on Kausar Danesh educational center in the west of Kabul.In Nowruz 2017, 33 people died and 65 others were injured due to a suicide attack during the Nowruz ceremony at Karte Sakhi shrine in Kabul. ISIS claimed responsibility for this attack.
On the 12th of Asad 1396, Taliban and ISIS shot 50 people after taking control of Mirzavalang.The attack on the burial ceremony of a local police commander in Nangarhar in the month of Thor 2019 left 32 dead and dozens injured.On the 18th of Thor 1400, an attack on Seyed al-Shohada girls' school in the west of Kabul left nearly 100 dead and 200 wounded.A month later, another attack by ISIS-affiliated people on the camp of employees of Helotrust demining institute in central Baghlan district of Baghlan province left 10 dead and 14 injured.
That night, terrorists killed and injured several employees of Helotrust for the crime of not revealing the identity of Hazara employees.the escalation of the war in the north; A platform for the return of ISISDespite the fact that the Afghan government has repeatedly announced the destruction and defeat of ISIS in different regions of the country; But carrying out bloody terrorist attacks and accepting the responsibility of these attacks by ISIS shows that this group has not been completely eradicated or destroyed in Afghanistan. ISIS activities in Afghanistan in a serious way; But there is a secret going on.
The intensification of the war in the north and the possibility of the involvement of various terrorist groups in Central Asia, which have not been able to grow so much due to lack of financial resources, is a capacity for the promotion of ISIS. The ISIS terrorist group, which has more regional and global relations than other terrorist groups in the region, is a possibility to finance other terrorist groups with the money that will be collected from the external branches of this group.The Taliban war in the north has provided the basis for the expansion of the activities of the ISIS terrorist group. Due to the fact that the government is involved in political and war issues against the Taliban, an opportunity has been provided for ISIS to use it and mobilize its activities. The field of Daesh recruitment in the northern regions, to the southern and eastern regions, is more ready; Because in the north, there is a lot of recruitment from terrorist groups such as the Tahrir Party of Uzbekistan and the extremists of Tajikistan.
There are two possibilities facing the North and the role of ISIS in it; 1: The victory of the Taliban and the allegiance of ISIS survivors to this group; 2: The defeat of the Taliban and the possibility of the Taliban survivors pledging allegiance to ISIS. If the Taliban wins, it may weaken the role of ISIS; Because, in order to maintain balance with regional policies, this group has to suppress ISIS; But it is far from possible for the Taliban to come to power in the north; Because the big cities in the north have lined up against the Taliban and this confrontation has hindered the possibility of the Taliban entering the cities; Even if the Taliban does not win and the situation continues, it is possible that some of the commanders and soldiers of this group will join ISIS in the event of the public resumption of ISIS activities; Because, ISIS provides them with more possibility of violence.
If the Taliban are suppressed in the north, another group that will be replaced is ISIS; Because, compared to other terrorist groups in the northern war, they do not have the ability to organize and think of war-propaganda as much as ISIS. This group, which consists of cross-border forces and regional and global policies, has become a group that violent people from different countries of the world join to vent their violence. Afghanistan's similar situation with Iraq strengthens the possibility of ISIS' return. We witnessed how ISIS entered the field with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's government and the differences between the government leaders and the people of Iraq.
America and the Iraqi government knew that ISIS would enter the field; But either they did not have the will to prevent it in time or they neglected it. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Daesh, used this opportunity well. He once raised his head and became a serious threat to the Middle East. There is a possibility of such a scenario in Afghanistan as well due to the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan and the intensity of the war in the north. Intelligence and security institutions, along with managing the war with the Taliban, must be aware of the movements of ISIS so that it does not take advantage of the opportunity to renew its strength.
