Islamist militant groups like al Qaeda and Islamic State (Daesh) have a desire to find a firm foothold in Khorasan, the areas comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Tajikistan. They don the cloak of jihadists of Khorasan to acquire the look of the legitimate group striving for the renaissance of Islamic power in the world, whose mention can be found in some hadiths (Sayings of the Prophet). A hadith in Sunan at-Tirmidhi 2269 is often quoted that black banners will rise from Khorasan and nothing shall turn them back until they are planted in Jerusalem. But some Islamic scholars argue that it has been misconstrued.
However, this narrative suits the militants well as it enables them to recruit conveniently from amongst the disillusioned youth and to strike against the government targets with impunity.
The local militant groups like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), that had taken birth as the foot-soldiers of al Qaeda, desperate to avoid quickly drying up supply of recruits, have pounced to play in the hands of IS Khorasan. The first Amir of IS Khorasan, Hafiz Saeed, belonged to Orakzai Agency, FATA, and was leader of TTP. As a result of military operation in FATA, he sneaked into Afghanistan and soon joined IS and rose to the rank of its Amir. He was killed in 2015.
Though Afghan Taliban also wear black turbans, probably to give themselves Khorasani look, they never showed aspirations to operate beyond their borders. They however made a blunder to provide extended shelter to Osama Bin Laden, which earned the wrath of an infuriated US that bombed them out of power. Nevertheless the Afghan Taliban do not seem to have any alliance or love lost for IS.
A multi-pronged plan must be devised to tackle IS strategies ranging from recruitment to radicalisation of the youth, development of sleeper cells and training of terrorists
In fact a couple of years ago, the Afghan Taliban attacked and annihilated the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) because it had switched allegiance to IS. Afghan Taliban launched ferocious attacks on IMU fighters in Zabul and killed thousands of them. Though it debilitated them considerably, 5/6000 IMU fighters and their families are still operating in Afghanistan.
The support of TTP militants, IMU fighters and dissident Afghan Taliban has given considerable strength to IS in Afghanistan. It has gradually entrenched itself in Nangarhar, Uruzgan, Logar, and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan. But it keeps launching terrorist attacks up till Kabul and beyond. Two weeks ago, it claimed responsibility of a suicide attack outside a cricket stadium in Kabul in which three persons including a policeman were killed.
Pakistan should be equally worried about spill-over of IS from Afghanistan. The last forty years history is evident that weak and lackadaisical management of Eastern and Western borders has given birth to security problems for Pakistan.
IS has already made its presence felt in different forms in different areas of Pakistan. Though Foreign Office spokesman denied organised presence of IS in Pakistan, in 2015 the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan had admitted that IS posed serious threats to Pakistan. The former Minister Interior had also denied the presence of IS in the country but later clarified that his statement was misconstrued.
The security and intelligence agencies of Pakistan have been taking active action against the pro-IS elements for last two years. In Lahore, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested three members of Sautul Ummah, that had pledged allegiance to IS, who were in possession of explosive materials. In first two months of year 2016 Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau apprehended IS activists from Punjab who confessed their involvement in various terrorist activities and disclosed that the IS had presence in all districts of Punjab and in many cities of other provinces, in form of sympathisers and facilitators.
Two important states of so-called Khorasan, Pakistan and Iran, had agreed in July 2016 that IS was a common threat to both neighboring states. It was a consensus that IS not only posed threat to strategic stability of Muslim States, it also brings embarrassment to Islam. This statement was made after Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua, who was in Tehran on a three day visit, met his counterpart. Both sides agreed about improving border management and incorporating better institutional mechanisms.
This cooperation mechanism, with greater emphasis on sustained intelligence sharing, must be extended to other states like Afghanistan, Tajikistan, China, the US and others to check the surreptitious spread of IS sleeper cells and sympathisers in the region. A multi-pronged plan must be devised to tackle the IS strategy ranging from recruitment to radicalising the youth, developing the sleeper cells to training the terrorists etc.
The first and foremost counter measure should aim at strangulating IS recruitment spree from amongst the disenchanted youth who easily succumb to the bait of radicalisation. It would require better opportunities of education and jobs for the youth of this region. Educated, enlightened and financially secure youth will be better equipped to deflect the extremist worldview and to propel a strong counter narrative against the harbingers of Armageddon from Khorasan and elsewhere.
The writer is Honorary Director Centre for Peace and Security Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Masters in International Security, War Studies Department, King’s College London. Tweets at N Elahi@Aaibak
Published in Daily Times, September 26th 2017.