Daily Times

Islamic State (IS) is no longer confined to just Iraq and Syria. The self-styled caliphate is looking to expand its reach. IS troops encroaching on the Turkey-Syria border were successfully thwarted by Kurdish fighters, supported by Shiite rebels and US coalition air strikes. But given the continuing instability of Afghanistan and the Taliban’s ongoing offensive against President Ghani’s government, the spread of IS into Afghanistan cannot be so easily thwarted. IS-loyal terrorists entered Nangarhar province, which borders Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, this week and were able to oust the Taliban from about seven districts and burn down their opium producing poppy fields. Known for its brutality and abundance of funds from the slave trade and other criminal activities, the group seems to have a great talent for recruiting fighters, particularly young people, from all over the world. IS has mastered the art of using social media to recruit susceptible youths into their network, even from western countries. A significant number of militant groups in other countries have also been pledging allegiance to IS.

The terrifying spread of IS should be a wake-up call to the world in general and Pakistan in particular. Both Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and the Foreign Office have denied that IS could be a threat to Pakistan, failing to realise that IS troops do not need to physically move from Iraq or Syria to Pakistani soil to carry out or abet terrorist attacks here. The fact that fighters loyal to IS are encroaching on the insecure and porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border area should ring alarm bells. With Operation Zarb-e-Azb winding down in the north, there should be a continued troop presence in sensitive areas, particularly along the border, and the security forces will have to be vigilant to the possible IS presence in Pakistan. Considering the plethora of homegrown and foreign militant organisations that the military is fighting right now, we cannot afford to allow IS to be added to the mix. As strong as our armed forces are, IS presents a far more lethal threat. IS is far more brutal, organised and strategically modern than any other terrorist group that the world has ever encountered. Although the entrance of IS has exacerbated Afghanistan’s war, the addition of a new enemy into the equation could persuade the Taliban to try to reach a settlement with the Kabul government. Pakistan should make a greater effort to facilitate negotiations, which is something that they had pledged to do since President Ghani took office and had a friendlier approach to Pakistan than his predecessor. Pakistan’s government and military need to work with Afghanistan to devise a plan to deal with the looming threat of IS, not just for the stability of Afghanistan but for that of Pakistan as well. *