Amid peace talks with Taliban the Islamic State terrorist group is gaining strength

On February 29th, President Trump announced a historic peace agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The deal came after nearly two decades of American presence in the region. The provisional agreement hinges on three major points: complete withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from the region; open talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban; and a pledge from the Taliban that they would prevent al-Qaeda from operating within regions that they controlled.

The agreement also called for the U.S. to close five major military bases within 135 days, and to commit to ending economic sanctions against the Taliban by the end of August. Additionally, according to the agreement, the Afghan government has to release 5,000 Taliban fighters currently incarcerated in Afghan jails.

While the peace talks struggle to find their footing, recent violence across much of the country suggests that Afghanistan remains precariously poised to slide into the hands of ISIS.

IS-K (the Islamic State of Khorasan) is an ISIS faction whose purpose is to gain ground in Afghanistan to destabilize the Afghan government, erode trust in democracy, and sow sectarianism and instability across the region. Over the past few years, IS-K has cemented a foothold in the region by exploiting the porous borders with Pakistan and Tajikistan. It has siphoned off fighters, arms, and resources from the Taliban and the Afghan government forces alike.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), IS-K is “responsible for the deaths of 338 civilians in neighboring Pakistan since January of 2017 largely [as] a result of attacks targeting electoral and sectarian institutions.” In a 2018 report, CSIS estimated that IS-K had grown to roughly 800 fighters.

Recent events suggest that IS-K has grown and is gaining in confidence. Over the past several weeks, Afghanistan has been pockmarked by nearly daily attacks across nine different provinces. While some have been claimed by the Taliban, several have been linked to IS-K.

One of the most daring and complex attacks attributed to IS-K took place on August 3 when a group of fighters stormed a prison complex in Jalalabad in the eastern province of Nangarhar on the border with Pakistan. According to several reports, the prison was holding upwards of 1,700 prisoners at the time of the attack, most of whom were known Taliban and IS-K fighters. The battle lasted some 20 hours and resulted in more than 1,000 inmates attempting to flee. The BBC reports that an estimated 300 fighters remain at large.

Raids of this type are a common tactic among terrorist groups in the region. But the August 3 prison raid points to two troubling truths: IS-K is growing more brazen; and it’s recruiting.

Source: Sofrep