ISIS-K Kills Americans, But What Is ISIS-K?
The death of 13 American military personnel and scores of Afghan civilians at the Hamid Karzai airport in Kabul was a horrible tragedy and my heart goes out to the family and friends left behind to grieve. A group called ISIS-K claimed responsibility for a complex attack that hit two targets simultaneously. ISIS-K, which has been operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan for about half a decade or so, stands for the Islamic State Khorasan Province, an affiliate of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Khorasan refers to a region that long ago contained parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Turkmenistan.
Where Did They Come From?
ISIS-K started when former members of the Taliban and other groups joined forces and gained control of territory in north and northeast Afghanistan before moving to targets in major cities. Funding was largely provided by the original ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The group’s attacks drew the attention of coalition forces and it suffered major setbacks after repeated actions that degraded its capabilities.
What Does ISIS-K Want?
The simple answer is that they want is to expand the ISIS caliphate. They work toward this goal by launching attacks against minority groups, outsiders and government leaders and security forces. Now that the Afghan government set up by the US and its allies is defunct, ISIS-K will turn its attention to the Taliban government now in control. Make no mistake, there’s no love lost between ISIS-K and the Taliban.
What are they capable of?
Right now, the group’s capabilities are limited and there is no evidence of a threat to the US homeland. That could, of course, change over time but for the foreseeable future the danger seems to be limited to Afghanistan and Pakistan, where ISIS-K will likely try to destabilize the Taliban government. Most estimates say the group has no more than a few thousand radicals in its ranks.
What’s Next?
The United States will be out of Afghanistan in a few days, so in the near-term ISIS-K is the Taliban’s problem. Afghanistan will continue to be a mess and the violence there is likely to increase for some time to come. The Taliban will have to deal with that if it’s going to provide security for the population and establish itself as the protector of the Afghan people. The United States will need to keep an eye on both the Taliban, which once harbored Osama bin Laden, and ISIS-K for any future threats to the United States.
