“And Fight all the Polytheists" : new IS Central video of Wilayah Khurasan (ISKP) military operativeness in Afghanistan

 

Alessandra Ciffo

On February 18th, IS Central published a more than 55 minutes[1] videotape, entitled “And Fight all the Polytheists," of Wilayah Khurasan (ISKP)[2] about the military operations conducted in Afghanistan from mid-2021 to 2023 against the Afghan Taliban and its Security Forces due to the détente and friendly ties to various countries including China, Russia, India, Iran, that are accused among the mujahideen and IS supporters to have hostile attitude and politics against Muslims; the delay of the Sharia law; and the spread of sectarianism in the country through Taliban religious scholars.

The majority of the footage reported in the video are scenes from the ISKP armed activities conducted throughout the years targeting both Taliban security forces and Intelligence informants[3], in which some shown in the video could likely be referring to the assassination of  Taliban religious leader Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani, the Maulavi Mujib Ar-Rahmani[4] likely as a postponed claiming;

and also “foreigners” including as shown by exclusive low-quality scenes of the IS raid on the Longan Hotel in Kabul in which some foreign citizens, most likely Chinese, were killed, on December 12th,2022. In the video, a few clips have been observed showing one of the 2 attackers, Abdul Jabbar, managing to escape. After a couple of days, on January 2nd, 2022, ISKP declared him as the perpetrator of a suicide bombing conducted the day before near Kabul military airport.

This 55-minute video propagandistic material underlines the IS threat in Afghanistan and the risks posed not only to the country's National Security but also as a risk and severe threat to the US interest and national security in the area. 

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[1] It represents one of the longest videos recently released.

[2] The Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) is one of the official “wilayah” (province) recognized by the IS Central covering Central and South Asia.

[3] As stated by various attacks recently claimed by ISKP, including the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) against a bus in the sixteenth district of Kabul carrying security forces in the Polcharkhi prison (10 killed and wounded) on January 9th,2024; the alleged interrogation and killing of a Taliban Intelligence informant in Savukai district, Kunar province, in mid-January 2024.

[4] Haqqani was killed in a suicide blast in August 2022. Maulavi Mujib Ar-Rahmani, an Afghan mullah, and cleric, was killed in a suicide bombing in early September 2022, both allegedly killed by ISKP.