IS-K, the terrorist group behind the Kabul attack and an enemy of the Taliban, could increase chaos in Afghanistan

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New Delhi: Kabul was the capital of Afghanistan Shocked by suicide bombings Outside Hamid Karzai International Airport on Thursday evening, at least 90 Afghan civilians and 13 United States soldiers were killed.

according to different media report, Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP or IS-K) carried out the bombing.

The attack comes amid turmoil and chaos in the country, resulting in the Taliban recapturing Afghanistan as the US pulled its troops out of the country and ended a 20-year war.

As the new Taliban regime is taking shape, Afghan and US allies are flocking to the airport to exit the country before August 31, the deadline for the US to withdraw completely from Afghanistan.

According to Los Angeles TimesPentagon confirms IS-K as attackers. US President Joe Biden said the US would retaliate, denying Taliban involvement in the attacks.

Thursday’s attack is not the first linked to IS-K; last march’s attack a Gurdwara in Kabuli claimed by the organization. In August 2019, it claimed attack on marriage In Kabul, in which 63 people were killed.

But who are the IS-Ks? ThePrint clarifies.

Read also: In Afghanistan, a new ‘Great Game’ with ISIS, ISK and Pakistan continues with vengeance

Khorasan, a name with history

The Islamic State or Daesh-Khorasan in Khorasan province is an affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an Afghanistan-based radical terrorist group. The group gained international attention after the capture of Mosul, Iraq in 2014.

According to academics Amira Jadoon and Andrew Mines, the organization is working to “establish a beach for the Islamic State movement to expand its so-called caliphate into Central and South Asia”.

Established in 2015, the terrorist group became active in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In a public announcement by ISIS that year, Hafiz Saeed Khan, the former leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, was named Emir of Khorasan Province. However, the United States did not Designate it as a terrorist organization Until a year later, in January 2016.

Interestingly, at present no province named Khorasan exists in Afghanistan. The name historically referred to the parts of northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan and northern Afghanistan that came under the territory of the medieval Sassanid Empire. Washington Post report good.

“Over the years, the Khorasan region has had a fractal history, and was eventually swallowed up by various states,” the report said.

However, due to its importance in the early days of the Islamic Empire’s history, as a part of the Umayyad Caliphate, many modern militant groups refer to Khorasan in their group names.

Read also: Why ISIS bombed Kabul wedding and how it has an eye on Afghan peace talks

beheading with the Taliban

IS-K emerged after the fall of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Since then it has been engaged in the longest conflict in its six-and-a-half-year history with the Taliban.

Detailed reporting by wall street journal revealed that amid the rise in popularity of IS-K through its support of “disaffected Taliban” members and foreign militants, its ambitious global goals were fundamentally incompatible with the Taliban’s nationalist goals of coming to power within Afghanistan. Were. As such, the Taliban viewed IS-K as an “obstacle”, magazine said.

The report said, “Similar to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the group in Afghanistan has become notorious for its use of horrific execution videos, attacks on civilian targets, and excessive violence against newly conquered locals who oppose their regime.” Gaya.”

It elaborated on a month-long conflict in Jowjan in 2017, in which the US, Afghan forces as well as the Taliban all fought against and defeated IS-K forces.

Despite the power imbalance between the two militant outfits, IS-K remained in the minds of the Taliban leadership, which blamed This is for the terrorist attack on a school in Kabul in May this year, which at least 85 people died.

IS-K reportedly focused its propaganda against the Taliban in the days before Thursday’s Kabul airport blasts, labeling the Taliban’s rapid takeover as a “US-backed conspiracy”. Wire informed of.

for example, According to NPRThe terrorist group’s latest attacks have revealed significant failures in the Taliban’s ability to maintain peace and security as they established their second regime.

(Edited by Mansa Mohan)

Read also: Why is ISKP, the group behind the Kabul Gurdwara attack, a threat to Indians in India and abroad?

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