Senior Irani officials have warned a Pakistani delegation, which included the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP), that the so-called Islamic State (IS) and its leaders — including Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi — have been relocated to Afghanistan. They have cautioned Pakistan that IS presence is becoming particularly strong in the Pak-Afghan border region.
Iran has slowly strengthened its presence in Afghanistan since the US invasion. An August 2017 report in New York Times has stated that Iran is now supporting its former foe, the Afghan Taliban, in an effort to counter the presence of US troops as well as the ISIS. Senior Afghan intelligence official, Arif Shah Jahan, was quoted in the report, stating, “The strongest Taliban here are the Iranian Taliban.” It is also telling here that deceased Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, was killed in a US drone attack in Pakistan on his way back from Iran.
If Iran’s intelligence here is correct, it is a cause for serious concern. ISIS has a presence in Pakistan already, particularly in Balochistan. In August 2017, the group executed a suicide bombing near a Pakistan Army truck in Quetta, killing 15 people including eight soldiers. 40 were wounded. ISIS also claimed responsibility for an attack on four members of a Christian family in April — also in Quetta. Moreover, the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) has alerted the authorities several times, to the ever deteriorating situation of human rights in Balochistan — particularly because of frequent terrorist attacks on the minority Shia Hazara community. An increased IS presence in Pakistan’s western borderlands will only exacerbate the plight of long suffering communities like the Hazara. Not to mention the damage Pakistan’s already tattered image will take abroad.
Against this backdrop, it would be prudent for the security forces to beef up their preparations for guarding the border region. Pakistan should also take the initiative to attack IS financially. Reportedly, the group makes profits worth at least hundreds of thousands of dollars from illegal mining of minerals such as talc and chromium. Most of these minerals end up in Pakistan and are exported from here. The situation is the same for Afghan narcotics. Pakistan must confiscate and destroy all imports coming in from Afghanistan which may be connected with any insurgent group or non-state actor.
Most importantly, Islamabad and Kabul must re-connect to tackle the IS menace — which poses an existential threat to both countries. Diplomatic relations must be revamped under the Afghan Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS). Historically, efforts to engage diplomatically between these two countries are frequently thwarted because of terror attacks and each country’s tendency to scapegoat the other when allotting blame for security failures. This must not be allowed to happen in the future. *
Published in Daily Times, May 28th 2018.