On Tuesday, May 19, 2020, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies-AISS held a virtual roundtable discussion on “Presence of ISIS in Afghanistan and South Asia”. Dr. Arian Sharifi, Former Director of National Threat Assessment at NSC; Kabir Taneja, Fellow at Observer Research Foundation-India and Tamim Asey, Executive Chairman IWPS/Former Deputy Minister of Defense, were the speakers of the program. The event was moderated by Ferdaws Kawush, Journalist.
Kabir Taneja said that ISIS has suffered big losses territorially in Iraq and Syria, however its effects in South Asia have not been fully identified and addressed yet. The rise of ISIS-K in Afghanistan has added a new challenge in the fight against terror in that country, the region and the world as well. He said that South Asia should work to formulate new mechanisms to address common threats such as ISIS via targeted dialogue over transnational Islamist groups, and realistically addressing the root causes of the same.
Tamim Asey said that the Afghan government and the security forces have had major achievements, like killing and capturing some of the ISIS-K leadership and intelligence chiefs and as well as destroying their sleeper cells. But as long as the infrastructures are there; such as poverty and hunger, sources, intelligence background, extremist elements, then you cannot fundamentally remove ISIS.
Dr. Sharifi emphasized that terrorism in Afghanistan’s is not just an Afghan problem. From 20 terrorist grounds that exist here, only one is Afghan; the rest are all foreign - Pakistani, Chines, Uzbek, Tajik, Arab and others, who threaten the region and the world. Despite lots of military pressure by Afghan and Coalition Forces and the suffering of great losses, ISKP has not only survived, but has thrived, he added. Thus, it is likely that they continue to increase in size and strength; this poses a greater threat to Afghanistan and the region. Further, defeating terrorism is a generational challenge, and requires regional and global cooperation. Dr. Sharifi said that more threats are to be carried out by ISIS-K based on the group's size and capabilities. What makes ISIS-K different is its intention. No group, including the Taliban, had carried out an attack on a maternity hospital. This is a 'cradle to grave' terrorist ideology that is carried out by ISIS-K.