Page 11 - The Indian EYE 082622

OPINION AUGUST 26, 2022 | The Indian Eye 11

lamic State in Khorasan Province’s allowing their soil to be used as a
(ISKP) leader Shahab al-Muhajir launch pad to undermine the latter’s
and Iran for the killing. With the kill- security. While India is engaging
ing of al-Zawahiri, as a power vacu- with the Taliban, recent develop-
um develops, rival organizations like ments indicate that re-adjustments
the ISKP could gain momentum. would have to be made to the threat
The ISIS affiliate would find this an assessment matrix.
opportune moment to highlight col- Questions would now, more so
lusion between the Taliban and the than before, have to be asked about
US in betraying the Islamist cause by the kind of immunity accorded to
selling out al-Zawahiri to the Amer- terrorists within Afghanistan, allow-
icans and securing the US$ 25 mil- ing them freedom to spew propagan-
lion bounty placed on his head by da and devise plans to undermine
the FBI. Given that Afghanistan is India’s national security apparatus.
not able to access its international Since the fall of Kabul, the Taliban
monetary assets worth US$ 9 billion, have stood steadfast with non-state
despite deteriorating economic and actors sponsored by Pakistan—
humanitarian crisis, could be flagged Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and
by ISKP as a reason why the Taliban Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)—who have
leadership has turned its back on the a violent, anti-India and anti-West
global jihadist crusade. The house where Zawahiri was hit and killed worldview. Moreover, JeM and
LeT have maintained their training
The Taliban’s growing align- camps in Afghanistan.
The strike against al-Zawahiri
ment with China in the hopes is being hailed as a vindication of

of securing the latter’s contin- the US’s over-the-horizon strate-
gy in eradicating terrorism without
ued investment in Afghanistan’s placing boots on the ground. In the
economy has already resulted long-term, however, its success will
be measured in terms of how impen-
in domino effects. Reports of etrable it can make the US and its

Uyghur militants joining hands allies to terrorist threats. Al-Qaeda’s
potential to expand and re-enforce
with the ISIS affiliate, support itself and affiliates cannot be written
the claim. A suicide bomber, off anytime soon.
While he lacked his predecessor
with a Uyghur lineage, attacked Bin Laden’s charisma and popular-

the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad mosque ity, Zawahiri had proven adept at
keeping the hollowed ties al-Qaeda
(Kunduz) in October 2021. shared with affiliates like al-Shabab
The Taliban have expressed ignorance about the Al-Qaeda leader's presence in Kabul and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Pen-
Furthermore, groups like the insula. Al-Shabab, in particular, has
East Turkestan Islamic Movement India has refrained from mak- ‘working towards advocating, abet- emerged as the deadliest al-Qaeda
(ETIM), earlier in cahoots with the ing any announcements regarding ting, inciting, assisting, harboring, affiliate worldwide, constantly un-
Taliban, might also increasingly find the drone strike. It would not be recruiting and collecting funds for dermining a fragile Somali govern-
themselves at odds with its former far-fetched to assume that its policy- organizing and committing unlawful ment. Finally, policymakers and in-
ally. Fissures had arisen between the makers and intelligence community & terrorist activities’. telligence agencies must exploit the
ETIM and the Taliban over the past will have some breather while re-as- Furthermore, al-Zawahiri used power struggles al-Qaeda’s emerg-
year as the latter appeared to par- sessing its threat matrix and adapt- the remarks made by Nupur Shar- ing leadership will face to minimize
tially comply with China’s demands ing counter-terrorism strategies. ma about Prophet Mohammad to the threat it and its dispersed affili-
of not letting the Uyghur militants Al-Qaeda had established its Indian issue a threatening letter in June ates still pose to the world.
use Afghanistan’s porous border affiliate in 2014. Al-Zawahiri incited 2022 about staging suicide bombings
via Xinjiang province to attack the communal tensions through his vid- in Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Saman Ayesha Kidwai is Research
mainland. eo messages in response to the hijab and Mumbai as retribution. As per Analyst at Manohar Parrikar Institute
The successful operation to take controversy in Karnataka in Febru- ‘The Khorasan Diary’s’ tweet on 7 for Defense Studies and Analyses,
out al-Zawahiri, who masterminded ary 2022. August 2022, around two al-Qaeda New Delhi
some of the most devastating attacks Five terrorists linked to the An- in the Indian subcontinent terrorists Views expressed are of the author and
on American targets—9/11 and the sarullah Bangla Team, an al-Qaeda were killed using an American drone do not necessarily reflect the views of
attack on the USS Cole in 2000, will affiliate based in Bangladesh, were strike in Ghazni province. Activities the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or of the
bring closure to the victims’ families. arrested from Barpeta, Assam, in of most of the al-Qaeda terrorists Government of India.
It could also boost President Biden’s April 2022. The terror module was have been traced to this region.
popularity and that of his Demo- deeply embedded in the recruitment Overall, the drone strike may This is the abridged version of
cratic Party, ahead of the mid-term and radicalization of youth in the not drastically alter India’s foreign the Introduction of the book which ap-
elections in November 2022. As per area. As per the documents seized policy, particularly regarding hu- peared first in the Comment section of
a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, his ap- from Saiful Islam alias Haroon manitarian aid towards Afghanistan. the website (www.idsa.in) of Manohar
proval ratings stood at 40 per cent on Rashid, Barpeta terror module’s re- The interim Afghan leadership has Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies
3 August 2022, as against 55 per cent ported leader, the recently inducted repeatedly extended assurances to and Analyses, New Delhi on August
in January 2021. young men were deeply engaged in the Indian government about dis- 20, 2022

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