Muhammad Murad
On July 24, the United Nations Security Council’s Monitoring Committee released its 36th report on the Islamic State (ISIS), also known as Daesh, as well as al-Qaida and associated groups. The report indicates that the threat from ISIS, al-Qaida, and their affiliates remains “diverse and dynamic.” In Asia, the report focused only on two regions – South Asia and Southeast Asia – and it was clear the former was the larger concern. In particular, the report underscored “growing concerns about the threat from foreign terrorist fighters” in South Asia – and especially in Afghanistan.
The de facto authorities in Afghanistan continued to maintain a permissive environment for a range of terrorist groups, including Al-Qaida and its affiliates, posing a serious threat to the security of Central Asian and other countries,” the report stated. The Monitoring Committee said that al-Qaida’s presence in Afghanistan – which mainly consists of fighters of Arab origin who had fought alongside the Taliban in the past – “had been drastically downsized” and thus “did not present an immediate threat for regional States.” According to the report, al-Qaida’s presence was limited to just six provinces of Afghanistan.
Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, Kunar, Uruzgan and Zabul. However, the report also noted al-Qaida’s stated ambition “to reactivate cells in Iraq, the Syrian Arab Republic, Libya and Europe.” The report also identified three new training sites, although “likely to be small and rudimentary,” for fighters belonging to both al-Qaida and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – an anti-Pakistani terrorist group operating mainly from Afghan soil. Pakistan’s government has repeatedly accused the Taliban regime in Afghanistan of providing safe haven to the TTP, which has stepped up its attacks on Pakistani targets. The Taliban have consistently denied such claims, but the U.N.
report found that the TTP “continued to receive substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities” in Afghanistan (i.e. the Taliban government). Besides al-Qaida and its affiliates, ISIS, with its local affiliate Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), also maintains its presence and is active in Afghanistan, which seems to be of major concern not only to the international community but also to the Taliban. The report identified ISKP as “the most serious threat, both regionally and internationally” of any terrorist group in South Asia. The group is actively recruiting both within Afghanistan as well as abroad, “including among Central Asian States and the Russian North Caucasus.
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