‘Caliphate in India’ among Kabul-bombing ISIS goals: Intel sources

According to government sources, after gaining a solid foothold in Afghanistan, IS-K or ISIS-K hopes to ‘export jihad to Central Asia and more’

US officials say ISIS-K includes Pakistanis from other terrorist groups and Uzbek extremists in addition to Afghans.: Shutterstock

TT Bureau And Agencies   |   New Delhi   |   27.08.21 : The unity of the Islamic State (IS) that believed to be behind Thursday's deadly Kabul bombings have India in their crosshairs with establishing the rule of their caliphate are among lofty ideological goals, sources in the Indian intelligence community have told NDTV.  

According to government sources who requested anonymity, after gaining a solid foothold in Afghanistan, Islamic State Khorasan, also known as IS-K or ISIS-K, hopes to “export jihad to Central Asia and more. late in India“.

Carrying out terrorist attacks and recruiting young people are high on their agenda for this, they said, adding: “Ideologically they want to establish the rule of the caliphate and India is included in that.

They said young people from Kerala and Mumbai have joined ISIS and that the violent group finds significant influence among radicalized individuals.

“If reverse osmosis starts, many cells can be activated in India,” said an official, worried about the group’s recruitment plans.

With the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the country is emerging as a petri dish for terrorist groups, they said.

According to them, the leadership of the Pakistani terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, known for its attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, has moved to the Afghan province of Helmand, on the border with Kandahar.

Likewise, the leadership of Lashkar-e-Taiba, responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is moving to Kunar in eastern Afghanistan, sources said.

However, ISIS-K quickly joined their league for the Indian intelligence establishment.

According to a source, the Kabul attacks were carried out to demonstrate that the Taliban cannot provide the security they promise.

ISIS-K also wants to become a key intermediary in Afghanistan and “push the United States to expand, in one form or another, its counterterrorism presence,” which would provide the terror group with leverage against the Taliban, said an official. senior officer.

Named after an ancient term for the Khorasan region, ISIS-K first appeared in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and quickly gained a reputation for extreme brutality.

Some experts on Islamist terrorism in the region say it was founded by extremist elements of the Pakistani Taliban who fled to Afghanistan when Pakistani security forces suppressed them.

US officials say ISIS-K includes Pakistanis from other terrorist groups and Uzbek extremists in addition to Afghans.

ISIS-K has fought both the Western-backed Afghan government and the Taliban, but its precise operational connection with the main ISIS group in Iraq and Syria remains unclear.