The Vilayat Khorasan branch of the Islamic State is actively recruiting people from CIS member states into terrorist structures, reinforcing the reality that Afghanistan under Taliban rule is no longer merely conflict zone but emerging launchpad for terrorist recruitment, radicalization and transnational operations.
“Vilayat Khorasan is actively recruiting militants from other terrorist organizations now, supporters from citizens of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, as well as migrant workers in Russia,” Director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov said at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services.
He said that conspiracy terrorist networks are being established in CIS countries, resource channels are being established, and terrorist attacks are being planned, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
He said that the FSB together with its colleagues from Tajikistan identified and neutralized a terrorist cell earlier this year, which was planning high-profile attacks, he noted, adding that in cooperation with the State Security Service of Uzbekistan, five terrorist attacks in the planning stages were thwarted in various regions of Russia, including Moscow.
In this regard, Bortnikov emphasized the importance of developing counter terrorism contacts with the Afghanistan.
ISIS-K recruitment stretching from Central Asia into migrant communities inside Russia demonstrates how Afghanistan is increasingly functioning as regional hub for extremist mobilization, manpower generation and cross-border terrorist networking.
The expansion of terrorist cells, clandestine financing channels and attack planning structures across CIS states reflects widening footprint of Afghanistan-based jihadist ecosystem operating under Taliban-controlled environment.
Russian cooperation with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to disrupt multiple planned attacks highlights how threats incubated in Afghanistan are translating into real-world terrorism across Eurasia.
“These warnings align with successive UN Monitoring Team, SIGAR, Russian and regional assessments identifying Afghanistan as sanctuary for over 20 terrorist organizations and 20,000-23,000 terrorists, including ISIS-K, TTP, Al-Qaeda, ETIM and affiliated networks. With estimated 2,000-3,000 ISIS-K terrorists, 5,000-7,000 TTP terrorists and continued extremist recruitment pipelines, Afghanistan increasingly resembles strategic hub for terrorist regeneration, coordination and ideological expansion,” according to a security analyst.
The analyst said that the threat was no longer confined within Afghanistan’s borders as Taliban-controlled territory was steadily evolving into export platform for extremism, recruitment base for jihadist organizations and operational ecosystem for Afghan terror franchise.
“Mounting international warnings increasingly point toward same conclusion: Afghanistan under Taliban rule risks becoming principal global launchpad for ISIS-K expansion, terrorist recruitment and transnational jihadist operations,” he added.