ISIS-Khorasan Poses Threat To Taliban In Afghanistan: Report

Islamic State Khorasan Province's (ISKP), the regional affiliate of the terrorist group ISIS, is lodged in a power tussle with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The group is gaining momentum and poses a major challenge to the Taliban, who is also seeking international support, as it failed to contain terrorism and improve its human rights record, the Afghan Diaspora Network reported.

The target of ISKP is to threaten diplomatic missions, international organizations such as the UN and various NGOs in the region. It also aims to challenge Taliban's increased hobnobbing with China and the US, it said.

Taliban would not only find it difficult to maintain its supremacy but also to seek international support as it is failing to contain terrorism and improve its human rights record. Peace would never be a reality without shunning terrorism and repression.

Recently, ISKP attacked the "Longan Hotel" which is frequently visited by Chinese visitors and other foreign nationals, indicating that the attack is the beginning of the next phase of terrorist disturbances in Afghanistan, according to some observers.

Not only at the hotel, but ISKP has also made Pakistan Charge d'Affaire as their target. The ISKP attempted to assassinate Pakistan Charge d'Affaire Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani, at his residence inside its embassy.

These attacks may jeopardise the Taliban regime's efforts to enhance its global strategic engagements including economic engagements, according to the Afghan Diaspora Network citing analysts.

These attacks have exposed the Taliban's constraints and undermined its capacity to protect its global partners and its supremacy. It showed that it could not provide foolproof security for the diplomatic establishments.

In the last few years, ISKP had accelerated its attacks in Afghanistan and is now seeking prominence in political matters of the state as well. It is finding terror attacks as a handy tool to enhance its presence and control in the country. Although the ISKP had indicated that the attack aimed to take revenge and caution China over its crackdown on Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, the other underlying objective is to curb Beijing's diplomatic overtures to the Taliban regime since it assumed power in August 2021.

ISPK, which projects itself as an alternative to the Taliban, apprehends that Taliban's rule in Afghanistan is fast becoming inevitable and the world is slowly going to restart engagement with the Islamist party which has not been recognised so far by any country.

It accuses the Taliban of abandoning the jihadi ideology by making peace with the United States and betraying the cause of Muslims. ISKP also seeks to mobilise mass support for its actions by taking refuge in the tenets of Islam and the pretext of its protection, the Afghan Diaspora Network reported.

Earlier, ISKP had also attacked the Russian embassy. ISKP's terror attacks are the product of a well-calculated strategy to garner maximum publicity and impact. It has been targeting high-profile landmarks like embassies or ethnic minorities like Shia and Hazaras. The series of attacks intended to compel Russia, China and other dominant influencers in Kabul to review their strategy and engagements in Afghanistan. ISKP is displaying contempt for the international powers which sympathize with the Taliban. Pakistan is also not an exception.

Terrorism has its own boomerang effects. Taliban cannot prevent other terrorist outfits from the acts it adopted as a strategy to capture power and bog down people to accept its version of Islamic precepts and practices, howsoever retrograde, reported Afghan Diaspora Network.

Even in the case of Pakistan, the double standards on Taliban have now boomeranged as the TTP has stepped up attacks across Pakistan with a spate of incidents over the past week. It has prompted the Shahbaz Sharif-led government to throw blame at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for a surge in terrorist activities. The blame is directed at the provincial government because it is led by Imran Khan-led Tehreek-e-Insaf. It may serve the Shahbaz government's political interest, but the truth is that terrorism has always remained a tool of Pakistan's domestic and foreign policy no matter which Party rules,according to the Afghan Diaspora Network citing analysts.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)