ADDRESSING a seminar at the Stimson Centre think-tank in Washington on September 12, this year, US Special Representative for Afghanistan, Tom West said that the Daesh attacks have decreased in Afghanistan. The group that we worry most about is the Islamic State branch (IS) group of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) in Afghanistan. The US envoy elaborated: “Since early 2023, Taliban raids in Afghanistan have removed at least eight key ISKP leaders”. Tom remarked that the Doha Agreement which enabled the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan was no longer as relevant as it once was. He identified the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the greatest threat to regional stability and stated: “We see a very significant increase in TTP attacks directed at Pakistan”.
He pointed out: “Washington looked at Pakistan through the lens of Afghanistan, and now, for the last two years, through a different lens…We need to place a very high priority on the initiation of a dialogue among Afghans…without foreign interference…it could very well lead to a much better relationship with the international community, including the US…the Islamic Emirate once again pledged that Afghanistan territory will not be used against other countries.” In fact, RAW which is in collusion with Israeli Mossad, supports TTP and other banned terror-groups such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, ISKP and Balochistan Liberation Army, and their linked outfits such as Jundullah which have been fully assisting terror activities in parts of Pakistan as well as other regional countries such as China, Iran Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. These outfits are also being funded by Indian intelligence agencies as a proxy to further Indian interests by destabilizing these countries. ISKP was created against Taliban by hostile intelligence agencies in order to prolong stay of extra-regional forces in Afghanistan. In late 2014, international media reported secret visit of Ajit Doval—Indian National Security Advisor to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to establish contacts with the top TTP and ISIS leadership in Iraq to use them against Pakistan. In this connection, Indian Consulate in Kandahar was used for coordination between the TTP and ISIS. Now, ultra-radical ISKP is trying to undermine Taliban’s rule through violence inside Afghanistan and against its neighbouring countries. In 2020, a UN report on terrorism highlighted “significant numbers” of ISIS and ISKP terrorists in two Indian states i.e. Kerala and Karnataka. Reportedly, ISIS terrorist Abdur Rehman Al Logari, responsible for attacking American forces at Kabul airport in 2021 and killing 170 as well as 13 US Marines, had connections with New Delhi.
In 2020, UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team revealed that individuals from India are part of ISKP in Afghanistan. International forces killed a leader of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) in 2019 who was an Indian citizen. ISIS terrorists who carried out Easter Sunday Attacks on April 21, 2019 across Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo were also linked to ISKP elements based in Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. And in November, 2020 at a joint press conference, DG, ISPR, Major-Gen. Babar Iftikhar and the then Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi unveiled a dossier containing “irrefutable evidence” of “India’s sponsorship of terrorism from its soil and beyond Pakistan.” Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Munir Akram had handed over the dossier to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
In its 27th report, dated February 3, 2021 and the 28th report, published in the recent past, the UN Security Council’s monitoring team for tracking terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS and TTP confirmed Pakistan’s dossier, and drew attention to the increasing cross-border terrorist threat to Pakistan—the “reunification of splinter groups [of TTP] in Afghanistan as a point of concern”. Notably, Islamabad urged the international community to comprehensively engage with the Taliban to avert a humanitarian and security crisis in Afghanistan. So, it is the crucial time for the Afghans to recognize that their real enemy is India which is particularly using ISKP terror outfit and other trans-national militant groups in the region in order to obtain her selfish goals in sense of Machiavellian diplomacy, while Taliban regime should strengthen its ties with its true allies like Pakistan, China and Iran that have stood with their Afghan brethren in every thick and thin.
Afghan Taliban Administration should also know that Islamabad’s recent measures to deport illegal residents was not specifically targeted at the Afghan refugees, but against all immigrants residing in the country illegally without valid visa documents, while the operation was not against the Afghan refugees, living legally—the country had been hosting for several decades despite its economic constraints, as Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch clarified. In conclusion, it is crucial for Afghanistan and its allies to remain vigilant regarding the alleged proxy activities of Indian intelligence agencies, including support for groups like ISKP, which are seen as serving India’s interests in the region. The Afghan Taliban Administration should prioritize strengthening its bonds with true allies such as Pakistan, China and Iran that have consistently supported Afghanistan during challenging times.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Lahore.
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