Afghanistan stays the first supply of terrorist menace for Central and South Asia, with teams resembling ISIL-Okay, Al-Qaeda and Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan having fun with larger freedom of motion within the nation owing to the absence of an efficient Taliban safety technique, a UN report has stated.
The thirty first report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team (ISIL, Al-Qaida), was issued right here on Tuesday.
The report stated that Afghanistan stays the first supply of terrorist menace for Central and South Asia.
“It originates from groups including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant- Khorasan (ISIL-K), Al-Qaeda, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, as well as ETIM/TIP (Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement/Turkistan Islamic Party), Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Islamic Jihad Group, Khatiba Imam al-Bukhari, Khatiba al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, Jamaat Ansarullah and others. These groups enjoy greater freedom of movement in Afghanistan owing to the absence of an effective Taliban security strategy,” the report stated.
It stated that ISIL-Okay portrays itself because the “major rival” to the Taliban de facto administration, with its strategic focus on Afghanistan and beyond in the historical Khorasan region.
“Its main goal is to portray the Taliban as incapable of providing security in the country. By targeting diplomatic missions, ISIL-K seeks to undermine the relationship between the Taliban and neighbouring countries,” it said.
The report noted that the September 5 attack last year on the Russian Embassy in Kabul was the first against a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control; in December, ISIL-K claimed attacks against the Pakistan Embassy and a hotel that accommodated Chinese nationals.
“It also threatened to launch terrorist attacks against Chinese, Indian and Iranian embassies in Afghanistan. Apart from high-profile attacks, ISIL-K conducts low-level attacks nearly daily, causing fear in local communities, targeting Shia minorities to undermine Taliban Pashtun authority and challenging nascent security agencies,” the report said.
The 16th report of the Secretary-General on the threat posed by ISIL (Da’esh) to international peace and security and the range of United Nations efforts in support of Member States in countering the threat, issued last week, had also noted that ISIL-K threatened to launch terrorist attacks against the Embassies of India, Iran and China in Afghanistan and by targeting diplomatic missions, the terror group sought to undermine the relationship between the Taliban and UN Member States in the Central and South Asia region.
In June last year, India resumed its diplomatic presence in Kabul by deploying a technical team in its embassy in the Afghan capital, over 10 months after it pulled out its officials from the mission following the Taliban’s capture of power.
The reopening of the embassy had come after an Indian team led by senior Ministry of External Affairs official J.P. Singh had visited Kabul and met acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi and some other members of the Taliban dispensation.
“In order to carefully monitor and coordinate the efforts of varied stakeholders for the efficient supply of humanitarian help and in continuation of our engagement with the Afghan folks, an Indian technical staff has reached Kabul at the moment and has been deployed in our embassy there,” the Ministry of External Affairs had stated.
The report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team added that regional Member States estimated present ISIL-Okay energy at between 1,000 and three,000 fighters, of whom roughly 200 had been of Central Asian origin, however different Member States believed that quantity may very well be as a lot as 6,000.
Core ISIL-Okay cells are situated primarily within the japanese Kunar, Nangarhar and Nuristan Provinces of Afghanistan, with a big cell lively in Kabul and its environs. Smaller teams had been detected within the northern and north-eastern Badakhshan, Faryab, Jowzjan, Kunduz, Takhar and Balkh Provinces. Since Balkh is without doubt one of the most economically developed provinces within the north, it remained of major curiosity to ISIL-Okay by way of income technology.
“One Member State reported that ISIL-K had started smuggling narcotics, which was a new development,” it stated.
Member States additionally reported no important change in Al-Qaida’s energy because the earlier report. Despite the announcement by the United States of the killing of Al Qaeda chief Aiman Al-Zawahiri, ties between Al-Qaida and the Taliban stay shut, as underscored by the regional presence of Al-Qaida core management and affiliated teams, resembling Al-Qaida within the Indian Subcontinent.
“It was expected that Al-Qaida would remain in Afghanistan for the near future,” the report stated. According to 1 Member State, Al-Qaida-linked Katiba Umer Farooq (Red Unit) was presumably being re-activated in Kunar and Nuristan Provinces following the return of Abu Ikhlas al-Masri, Al-Qaida’s operations commander who had been captured in Kunar Province in 2010. It additionally reported that he had resumed management after his launch following the Taliban takeover.
Several Member States reported that the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan had emboldened Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to escalate assaults in opposition to Pakistan. In November, TTP introduced the tip of the May ceasefire with the Government of Pakistan following the killing of two senior TTP commanders in Afghanistan.
According to 1 Member State, whereas there had been a lower in assaults in opposition to Pakistani safety forces within the early months of the ceasefire, that quantity had elevated step by step as TTP consolidated its presence in Afghanistan.
In August, Abdul Wali Rakhib (alias Omar Khalid Khurasani), a founding member and army commander of TTP, was killed together with two different TTP leaders in Paktika Province, Afghanistan. He was reportedly succeeded by Mukarram Shah (alias Umar Khorasani), it stated.
The ISIL-Okay journal ‘Voice of Khorasan’ releases propaganda in Pashto, Persian, Tajik, Uzbek and Russian languages; latest outreach in Tajik and Uzbek was “noteworthy” following a person named Rashidov, an Uzbekistan nationwide, becoming a member of the ISIL-Okay media wing.
“With the objective of recruiting from ethnic teams within the area and strengthening the group’s capabilities, ISIL-Okay had recruited Rashidov on-line whereas he was working in Finland as a labour migrant, earlier than transferring to Afghanistan, the report stated.
It additional famous that the propaganda of the Tablighi Jamaat motion in Kyrgyzstan, the one nation in Central Asia the place it’s not banned, was spreading to neighbouring international locations.
Source: www.thehindu.com