{"id":7914,"date":"2017-06-06T08:06:43","date_gmt":"2017-06-06T06:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=7914"},"modified":"2017-06-06T08:29:18","modified_gmt":"2017-06-06T06:29:18","slug":"is-daesh-really-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2017\/06\/is-daesh-really-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Daesh really in Afghanistan?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: TRT World<\/a><\/h3>\n

Author:\u00a0<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0Ali M Latifi<\/a><\/p>\n

As the militant group steps up its attacks in the country, Afghans still see Daesh as a mysterious foreign entity whose makeup and intentions remain unclear to both officials and locals living under the group\u2019s rule.<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is little proof that members claiming allegiance to Daesh in Afghanistan have a connection to Syria and Iraq. Photo by: AP<\/span><\/p>\n

The question of a\u00a0Daesh\u00a0presence in Afghanistan has been a source of doubt.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first signs of their presence\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 black flags<\/a> and men<\/a> claiming allegiance to the group \u2014 came in 2014, but for nearly a year the Afghan government made little official mention of the militant group\u2019s existence.<\/p>\n

Even US officials brushed the reports off as little more than \u201crumours<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first high-level confirmation<\/a> of Daesh\u2019s existence in Afghanistan came in March 2015. At the time, Abdul Salam Rahimi, chief of staff to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, said: \u201cDaesh is here, they do exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The acknowledgement came after months of reports that pockets of men claiming allegiance to the group, which had risen initially as a force in Syria and Iraq, had been spotted in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Are they tied to Syria and Iraq?<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Not exactly.<\/p>\n

In June 2015, a Daesh website claimed Afghanistan as part of what they referred to as Khorasan province<\/a>, which is a reference to a term used centuries ago to define the\u00a0landmass spanning from Afghanistan into Central and South Asia.<\/p>\n

But Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed leader of Daesh in the Middle East, has never outright addressed his group\u2019s ties to the forces in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The closest that Baghdadi \u2014 who took\u00a0part in the fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s \u2014 came to acknowledging the Afghan members was in a December\u00a02016 audio<\/a> recording.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do not dare come here because their hearts are filled with terror of confronting the Mujahideen … and because they learned their lesson in Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said.<\/p>\n

Baghdadi warned the US against trying to send ground troops to Syria by invoking the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where they faced fierce and ongoing armed resistance.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, Baghdadi\u2019s only other mention of Afghanistan was in a letter<\/a> to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader who had forced Baghdadi out of al-Qaeda because of the brutality of his forces.<\/p>\n

In the letter, Baghdadi tried to convince al-Zawahiri to backtrack from his decade-long oath of allegiance to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the founder of the Afghan Taliban, who had\u00a0proclaimed himself commander of the faithful, in 1996.<\/p>\n

So who are they really?<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

All signs point to the members adopting the Daesh moniker as, essentially, a branding opportunity; a way to instil fear and notoriety in both rival armed groups, and in Afghan civilians.<\/p>\n

Borhan Osman, a Kabul-based analyst at the Afghanistan Analyst Network, said there is no \u201chard evidence\u201d to show operational links between the members in Afghanistan\u00a0and Baghdadi\u2019s group in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Daesh name became an easy cover for those dissatisfied with the Taliban, both in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to settle scores with their ex-comrades,\u201d Osman said.<\/p>\n

However, groups of Pakistani fighters\u00a0belonging to other armed groups \u2013 namely, Lashkar-e Jhangvi and Ahl-e-Sunnat Wali Jamat \u2014 were reportedly courted by Daesh as far back as 2014. Some were even sent to fight in Syria. Among those who returned alive, many moved into areas<\/a> in Afghanistan and Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Additionally, not all those claiming to be Daesh were compelled by ideology.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome with long criminal records were driven to brand themselves as Daesh by criminal-economic motives,\u201d Osman said.<\/p>\n

Residents in Logar province, an hour south of Kabul, said the men claiming to be Daesh in their areas were nothing but bandits looking for paydays.<\/p>\n

Until this point, Daesh was largely restricted to the Levant. This rebranding of local groups in Afghanistan came at the same time as\u00a0a similar phenomenon\u00a0was taking place in Libya. In early March 2015, Daesh elements took control<\/a> of the Libyan port city of Sirte. Then came a series of international attacks: Tunisia in June<\/a> and November<\/a> 2015, Paris also in November<\/a> 2015 , Brussels in March<\/a> 2016 and Istanbul in June<\/a> 2016.<\/p>\n

The group was moving well outside its original territory and morphing into something quite different.<\/p>\n

Where did the Afghan branch of ‘Daesh’ come from?<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Most reports claim the Afghan branch of the group began with disgruntled members of the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistani Taliban. Infighting among the TTP in Pakistan led these men to cross over to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

They settled in Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Osman said various armed Pakistani groups began relocating to Nangarhar as far back as 2010. Some were TTP-aligned. Others were not.<\/p>\n

In a report<\/a> released earlier this year,\u00a0the analyst said,\u00a0the Afghan government, who sought to use the groups as a pressure tactic on Pakistan, initially welcomed them.<\/p>\n

Kabul has long accused Islamabad of aiding and abetting the armed opposition in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Do they have a base of operations?<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Nangarhar province is considered their stronghold. They have a presence in the districts of Achin, Nazian, Bati Kot, Kot and Mohmand Valley.<\/p>\n

By September 2015, their numbers in Nangarhar had climbed to more than 1,000.<\/p>\n

Tensions then surfaced between the TTP and the competing stray men as they were allegedly kidnapping and extorting money and belongings from the villagers.<\/p>\n

It was then that they began to openly wave the black flag of Daesh.<\/p>\n

Are they spreading?<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

A top security official said Daesh has failed to gain popularity due to their tactics and ideology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people have begun to see that Daesh\u2019s behaviour is against the core value of our culture,\u201d said the Kabul-based official, who could not be named.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hundreds of families in the districts of Nangarhar province have been displaced due to the presence of Daesh [AP]<\/span><\/p>\n

He was referring to the highly sectarianist nature of Daesh\u2019s recent activities, which have repeatedly targeted Afghanistan\u2019s Shia minority.<\/p>\n

Daesh did try to gain support in urban centres, but the official said that too\u00a0was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, they appealed to the university-educated youth, but as time went on, their popularity has completely declined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who is their leadership?<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Their leaders are mainly foreigners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pakistanis are in leadership positions,\u201d Osman said.<\/p>\n

In January, Abu Muhammad al Adnani, a spokesman for Daesh, named<\/a> commander Hafez Saeed Khan as the \u201cgovernor<\/a>\u201d of their forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Khan\u00a0was formerly a prominent leader of the TTP and initially was part of the Afghan Taliban.<\/p>\n

Khan first joined Daesh after the leadership in Syria and Iraq sent representatives<\/a> to Pakistan in September 2014. At the time, the leaders in the Middle East, who had criticised the Afghan Taliban, were actively pursuing the TTP fighters.<\/p>\n

In an article<\/a> in their online magazine, Dabiq<\/em>, Daesh referred to the TTP as a group that could \u201ccarry the Salafi creed and hope and strive to establish the laws of Islam in their region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khan\u2019s deputy, Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim, was an influential member of the Afghan Taliban in the southern province of Helmand.<\/p>\n

That announcement was preceded by a video that showed high-level leaders of different TTP-affiliated groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan, including former TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid, swearing allegiance<\/a> to Daesh. These men would be known as the Khorasan Shura<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By August 2016, both Khan and his deputy Khadim would be killed<\/a> by US aerial operations.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel Barr, a researcher at Valens Global, a DC-based private counter-terrorism consultancy firm, says one reason why Daesh leadership in Afghanistan is dominated by Pakistanis is that the group failed to woo Afghan Taliban.<\/p>\n

Part of that failure has to do with ideology.\u00a0The Taliban has condemned Daesh-claimed attacks on the Shia as a bid by the group to sow divisions among the Afghan people.<\/p>\n

Khan, the former leader of Daesh forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan, also \u201calienated key Afghan constituencies through his excessive violence against Afghan civilians,\u201d said Barr.<\/p>\n

The other reason is simply a matter of numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Taliban remains the stronger player on the ground in Afghanistan \u2026 So foot soldiers looking to align with the stronger horse would likely pick the Taliban over Daesh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Claiming the central government was not doing enough to fight Daesh presence in Nangarhar, residents of the province began to take up arms against the group themselves. (AP)<\/span><\/p>\n

Nangarhar residents who fled Daesh-controlled areas describe<\/a> life under the group as one full of intimidation and threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey burned people who tried to escape alive \u2026 They closed and burnt all of the schools and madrassas\u00a0(educational institutions),\u201d said Mujahid, a resident of the Shinwar district.<\/p>\n

As with other armed groups in the nation, Daesh has forced young men in areas under their control to join their ranks.<\/p>\n

But it was\u00a0reports of the group\u2019s unprecedented tactics that led to the greatest fear among the people.<\/p>\n

In August 2015, Daesh members executed 11 people, including several elderly tribal leaders in Nangarhar, by planting explosives beneath them. Video footage later released by the group showed body parts of the victims flying into pieces.<\/p>\n

Shortly after came\u00a0reports that Daesh forces approached locals in Nangarhar and asked them to hand over widows<\/a> in their communities.<\/p>\n

It has never been proven if Daesh members in Afghanistan took local brides as they have in the Middle East, but the request, coupled with reports of their brutality, only compounded the Afghan people\u2019s fears of the group.<\/p>\n

What have they done?<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Over the last year-and-a-half, Daesh has either been accused by officials or claimed responsibility for several high-profile attacks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Do they get along with other armed groups?<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

In July of 2015, the leader of Hezb-e\u00a0Islami, which until recently was the second-largest armed opposition movement in Afghanistan, said he supported<\/a> those Daesh members who were fighting Taliban. That statement was seen as an affront to the Taliban.<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

When they first appeared in Nangarhar, men claiming to be allied with Daesh expressed their open contempt for the Taliban. The two groups have been at odds ever since.<\/p>\n

In October 2015, the Taliban dispatched<\/a> 1,000 fighters to take on Daesh in four provinces. Recent Taliban visits<\/a> to neighbouring Iran are believed to have focused on the fight against Daesh.<\/p>\n

This is different from the Taliban\u2019s relationship with al Qaeda, whom they had accepted and reportedly<\/a> coordinated with in the past.<\/p>\n

What is being done?<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

In October 2015, locals gathered by Haji Abdul Zaher Qadir, a Nangarhar parliamentarian, began to take on Daesh in the Achin and Shinwar districts of the eastern province.<\/p>\n

Qadir said his “people’s uprising” isolated Daesh and cut off their supply lines. However, a lack of government support for his efforts have led to the Daesh forces spreading to several other areas.<\/p>\n

By January 2016, Kabul and its\u00a0allies in Washington stepped up efforts to target Daesh in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

It was then that the Pentagon authorised<\/a> US forces to specifically target Daesh-aligned men in aerial strikes.<\/p>\n

“We will bury Daesh. We are not going to sacrifice our prospects for other peoples’ sake. They have now confronted the wrong people and they need to know the consequences,” he said<\/a> in an interview with CNN.<\/em><\/p>\n

In July 2016, Washington announced that an operation by Afghan and US forces led to the death<\/a> of Hafiz Saeed Khan, believed to be the leader of a Daesh faction in Afghanistan and Pakistan.<\/p>\n

President Ghani credited such strikes, as well as renewed efforts by the Afghan security forces, with putting Daesh on the run.<\/p>\n

What does\u00a0this mean for Afghanistan?<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

They may not be a central player in the decades-long conflict, but they are a new player in an already crowded battlefield.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, what Daesh means for Afghanistan is more civilian casualties, the group has claimed responsibility for some of the deadliest attacks over the last year-and-a-half in the country.<\/p>\n

READ MORE HERE<\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Daesh, Al Qaeda infiltrating Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon; The appearance of these groups has led to some of the most violent clashes that any refugee camp in the region has seen in years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: TRT World Author:\u00a0\u00a0Ali M Latifi As the militant group steps up its attacks in the country, Afghans still see Daesh as a mysterious foreign entity whose makeup and intentions remain unclear to both officials […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,90,85,43,122,57,48],"tags":[725,724,726,477],"class_list":["post-7914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-editor-selection","category-human-rights","category-human-rights-online-library","category-politics","category-refugees-and-idps","category-war-and-peace","tag-baghdadi","tag-daesh","tag-nangarhar","tag-pakistan","country-afghanistan","Documents-statements-multimedia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7914"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7921,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7914\/revisions\/7921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}