According to the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP)’s Global Terrorism Index (GTI), Afghanistan remained the country with the highest impact from terrorism for the fourth consecutive year, followed by Burkina Faso and Somalia.
Although deaths from terrorism decreased worldwide by nine percent to 6,701 deaths in 2022, Afghanistan still experienced 225 attacks, resulting in 633 deaths and 897 injuries, IEP said.
The fall in terrorist related deaths in the world, according to IPE’s index, was due to a 28% decrease in the number of attacks from 5,463 in 2021 to 3,955 in 2022.
In 2022, 633 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, down from 866 people in 2021, which suggests a 29% fall in the number of deaths.
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“Afghanistan’s drop can largely be attributed to the Taliban taking control of the country after the fall of Kabul in August 2021,” the report said.
“As the Taliban are now the state actor in much of Afghanistan, their attacks fall outside the scope of the GTI’s definition of terrorism.
“While the impact of terrorism has decreased significantly, it does not mean peace has been restored in Afghanistan.”
GTI meanwhile stated that “While the impact of terrorism has decreased significantly, it does not mean peace has been restored in Afghanistan. The GTI does 10 COUNTRIES MOST IMPACTED BY TERRORISM GTI RANK 1 GTI SCORE 8.822 225 INCIDENTS 633 DEAD 897 INJURED Afghanistan not include acts of state repression and violence by state actors and, as such, acts committed by the Taliban are no longer included in the scope of the report.
The report highlighted the potential consequences of Afghanistan’s perceived state support of terrorism, suggesting, “such support could further prevent Afghanistan from accessing international markets or the aid needed to provide food and healthcare services to its citizens, further exacerbating its humanitarian crisis.”
“Additionally, counter-terrorism agencies remain concerned that the Taliban may be supporting terrorist organizations, particularly al-Qaeda, and that Afghanistan could become a safe haven for terrorists,” the report stated.
In 2022, the deadliest terrorist groups were Islamic State (IS) and its affiliates, followed by Al-Shabaab, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).
