KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesperson for the Taliban, has claimed that leaders and members of Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) have been relocated to Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, allegedly with the help of “certain intelligence agencies.” According to Mujahid, these locations serve as training and educational facilities for ISKP.
In a statement released on Monday, Mujahid announced the arrest of individuals linked to a deadly attack on employees of the Taliban-run Attorney General’s office in Kabul’s Dar-ul Aman area earlier this month, which resulted in over 45 casualties. He stated that investigations revealed the attackers had originated from Mastung, Balochistan.
Mujahid further indicated that some of those detained were implicated in an attack in central Bamiyan province that killed at least four foreign tourists in May. Among the arrests was a Tajik national who was reportedly planning a suicide attack; authorities seized an explosive vest, firearms, and ammunition from his hideout.
“Investigations have shown that the attackers targeting the Attorney General’s employees had arrived in Afghanistan from a training camp of ISKP in Mastung,” Mujahid stated. He claimed that special Taliban forces conducted operations against ISKP in Kabul and Nangarhar, resulting in the deaths of two of its members and the apprehension of several others, many of whom had recently traveled from the aforementioned training camp.
Mujahid further noted that ISKP conducts attacks from these camps both within Afghanistan and abroad, specifically targeting religious scholars and various political groups.
However, Mujahid’s assertions starkly contrast with increasing concerns that Afghanistan is once again becoming a have for terrorist activities under Taliban rule.
A UN report earlier this year indicated that regional and transnational terrorist groups are proliferating in the country and that the Taliban has strengthened ties with various terrorist factions, including ISKP. A Pentagon document showed that Afghanistan had become a “significant coordination site” for the Islamic State, as the group plans to carry out attacks in Asia and Europe, with the aspiration to reach the US.
In recent years, ISKP has perpetrated major, horrific attacks on schools, hospitals, public transportation, mosques, and gyms, specifically targeting the Hazara community and other Shia populations. The group claimed responsibility for a recent attack that killed 14 Hazaras in central Afghanistan.
