CIS Anti-Terrorism Center: ISIS terrorists gaining a new foothold in Afghanistan and Pakistan

ISIS is gaining a new foothold for its troops’ deployment in Afghanistan and Pakistan instead of the territories lost in Syria and Iraq, Col. Gen. Andrey Novikov, the head of the Commonwealth of Independent States Anti-Terrorism Center (CIS ATC), said Tuesday.

“After the elimination of a great part of the ISIS (Daesh) combat core, its ‘fragments’ have been evacuated to other regions… In Afghanistan and Pakistan, a new base for ISIS deployment is now being formed to replace the ones lost in Syria and Iraq,” Novikov said at the meeting of the CIS member states’ anti-terrorist centers heads.

Speaking further, Novikov said that ISIS would try to seize control of the heroin traffic in Afghanistan.

“Taking into account the information received from our partners, we see a probable scenario of IS (increasing) activity in Afghanistan in the near future. There are reasons to believe that IS will seek to get control of the heroin traffic,” Novikov said.

The CIS Anti-Terrorism Center was established in June 2000 by the council of the heads of states of the former Soviet Republics. The Center is headquartered in the Russian capital, Moscow, and its representative office in Central Asia is located in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Afghanistan is currently suffering from political, social and security instability due to the activity of the Taliban and the Islamic State terrorist organization.

Source: RT