Resurgence of ISIS-K: A Threat to Regional Stability

A report by Lara al-Hachem, English adaptation by Nadine Sassine

While the infrastructure of ISIS has collapsed in Syria and Iraq, it's evident that it has established strong roots in eastern Afghanistan since 2014.

It's called "Islamic State—Khorasan Province," named after an ancient historical region that spanned parts of Iran, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan.
This organization emerged from within the Afghan Taliban movement but quickly splintered because, according to the organization's ethics, the Taliban made peace with Americans and negotiated with them before their withdrawal from Afghanistan.

This offshoot adopted an extreme ideological stance, considering the Taliban insufficiently committed to Islamic teachings. 

ISIS-K grew and formed a highly combat-effective extremist entity with deep-seated hatred towards Russia, which it claims has oppressed Muslims in Central Asian countries and Chechnya. This branch of ISIS gained an organizational presence.

ISIS-K's bloody record includes notable operations in 2015 when it carried out a suicide attack, killing 13 US soldiers in Afghanistan during the US withdrawal.

In 2022, the group claimed responsibility for targeting the Russian embassy in Kabul.

In 2023, it killed 100 people in Kerman, Iran, in an attack on routes leading to the tomb of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who was assassinated at the beginning of 2020.

Today, the organization has struck deep into Russia. Are we facing a new phase of extremism, or is the attack possibly not carried out by the organization itself but a mere intelligence tactic orchestrated by other entities, as hinted by Russia through its media?