Exposing Fake Allegations Of ISKP Operating From Pakistan – OpEd

New accusations by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IAG) that the Islamic State in Khorasan province (ISKP) is based in Pakistan have fuelled much attention and concern from Islamabad. Such statements which seem to shift focus from Afghanistan’s own problems more specifically the TTP presence in Afghan soil can be seen as questionable motives and legitimacy in the IAG.

ISKP creation is traced back to Afghanistan not as Pakistan’s creation as many people tend to believe. Despite IS’s retreat in 2014 from SV checkpoints in northern Iraq for which it had been fighting since 2011, the group and its Pakistani affiliate, the TTP, began collaborating with ISKP formally in 2015, and ISKP was founded largely on elements from Al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban (TTA), and the TTP based in Afghanistan. Prominent disillusioned colourful commanders such as Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost earlier in TTA and Abdul Qahir Khorasani were active in the formation of TTP to which most belonged Hafiz Saeed Khan. Khan, himself a former TTP commander, had a major ideological and business rivalry with TTP’s chief, Fazalullah which compelled him to cross over to ISKP. Hafiz Saeed Khan was the first emir of ISKP, and the majority of ISKP fighters are linked with the TTP or TTA organizations.

Another weird note about the early leadership of ISKP is that Abdul Rahman Muslim Doat, who participated in the founding of ISKP, switched sides and returned to the Afghan Taliban. This absolutely negates IAG assertion that the leadership or operations of ISKP are being coordinated from Pakistan. Instead, ISKP was a group that originated in Afghanistan’s own conditions, let alone the impact of factors such as India.

Such ‘double game’ of India with ISKP only seems to complicate the narrative which the IAG seems to be propounding. Right from its formation, it has had a connection with Indian militants. It is on record that when ISKP was formed in Nangarhar, Afghanistan dozens of Indian militants had surrendered to the group. Information about active Indian involvement with the group emerged in the last year, when 13 Indian ISKP militants were reportedly killed in a U.S. airstrike (MOAB) in Tora Bora mountains.

Furthermore, some of the terrorists belong to ISKP have carried out significant attacks within India and its neighborhood. Mohammed Muhasin from Kerala is a known name linked with an attack in Kabul’s Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib in March 2020. In August 2020, another Indian, Abu Rawaha al-Muhajir, undertook a suicide vehicle bombing on Jalalabad prison. These attacks establish ISKP linkages with India and deal another blow to the propaganda that ISKP is launching operations from Pakistan. However, own connections of ISKP with India do indicate a much larger regional context which is conveniently overshadowed by Afghan and Indian authorities.

Growing allegations by IAG on Pakistan appear to be in fact phony strategies in order to absolve themselves of their inability to counter TTP within Afghanistan. The Afghan government has failed to stop TTP the use Afghan territory to launch an operation against Pakistan even after they were requested to do so and provided clear evidence by Islamabad. The TTP which is reported to have carried out several terrorist attacks in Pakistan still enjoys sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

India has a stakes in this narrative, and needs to promote it. Indian Media is no doubt among the major sources of Anti-Pakistan propaganda. Indian platforms have given open mikes to known terrorists such as Ehsan Ullah Ehsan, former TTP spokesperson to perpetrate the misinformation. Indian newspapers like the ‘Sunday Guardian ‘frequently features articles written by known terrorists and the nexus between Indian RAW and Afghan GDI in working to destabilise Pakistan through proxy groups such TTP and ISKP.

Pakistan has been the recipient of insurgent strikes from both TTP and ISKP. A total of 265 people were killed in 13 attacks inside Pakistan in 2023 for which ISKP took the responsibility. The bombings include one at a political rally in Bajaur where more than 60 people were killed by a suicide bomber and another event in Mastung where more than 50 people were killed by a similar bomber. All these attacks were coordinated from Afghanistan territory, which shows that ISKP has its strong base there.

Recent peer accounts including the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) have time and again amplified the presence of ISKP, TTP & other terrorist groups in Afghanistan. These groups have joined hands in conducting cross border raids in Pakistan thus proving the Afghanistan’s centrality as a theater of terror in Pakistan.

It is a violation of the Doha Agreement since the terrorist groups remain actively operating in Afghanistan today, namely ISKP, TTP, and even Al Qaeda. There are two broad principles of the agreement; the Taliban cannot launch terrorism activities from Afghan territory. Still, the Afghan government displays its inability either to stop the recruitment of Afghan nationals into these groups or cease their cross-border activities. The recent UN sanctions reports which have just been released amplify that the Afghan Taliban has not complied with its counterterrorism obligations thus #Afghanistan ‘s stocks erode.

Since the September 11 attack, Pakistan has remained quite straight forward as a country in term of its policy towards terrorism. Such players originating from ISKP, TTP or Al Qaeda are anti Pakistan terrorists and shall be meted out an exemplary response in accordance with the law. Over the years, Pakistan has appealed to Afghanistan to pursue the terrorist groups living in that country, but having had no cooperation they are going to protect their country and the region from terrorism.

These richly baseless allegations by the IAG against Pakistan in regard to ISKP is nothing else but a ploy to mask its inefficiency in tackling TTP and other terrorist outfits in their own territories. Cross-border terrorism remains a threat for Pakistan, the victim of militant activity in Afghanistan, which will continue to see ISKP and TTP terrorists operate and plan attacks. The world needs to accept facts about ISKP and relationships which support it instead of being trapped into the dissected goal of a country to destabilize Pakistan.