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OPINION OCTOBER 08, 2021 | The Indian Eye 14
is the threat of islamic State
khorasan a red herring?
Right from the beginning there has been some confusion behind who or what is responsible for the
emergence of ISIL or ISK? Another angle to the emergence of ISK may be long-held allegation that
they are nothing but the cat’s paw of Pakistan’s ISI
pradeep SinGh Gautam
A
new wave of violence
has emerged since the
US troops’ withdraw-
al from Afghanistan and the
takeover by Taliban. After the
Kabul airport attack on 26 Au-
gust 2021, in which nearly 170
people died including 13 US
soldiers, Jalalabad was rocked
by bomb blasts on 18–19 Sep-
tember 2021. Islamic State of
Khorasan (ISK) has claimed IdSA
responsibility for these attacks.
This existing threat of ISK is and 2,200. ISIL claims random terror at- fourth caliph Ali Ibn Abi Talib a
being harped upon by various Their activity was the high- tacks for propaganda purposes. civil war broke out between him
commentators as having po-
tential to destabilise the wider est in year 2017–2018 and then Inherent limitations and the governor of Damascus,
region. How serious and cred- it tapered down. The ostensible Muaviyah. It led to the Battle of
ible is this threat? Pakistan is reason for this fall post-2018 Notwithstanding the afore- Siffin in 657 AD, during which
was due to the concerted action mentioned strengths, there are a compromise was reached be-
asking the wider world to coop- against them by the Afghan some distinct weaknesses as well. tween the warring parties. A
erate with the Taliban to defeat and the NATO forces. Figure 1 First, an Islamic State of this group of supporters of Ali re-
it. Should we encourage that? shows a sudden jump in August kind requires territory which belled against him and blamed
If yes, what may be the long-
term implications of this coop- 2021 due to the Kabul airport it controls, a caliph and Dawla him of apostasy, saying that it
eration? blast. In all this recent buzz (state). As of now, ISIL does not was not for Ali to compromise
For this analysis, let’s first around ISK, it is pertinent to control any territory and their in violation of divine will. This
analyse how serious this threat caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dispute led to a lot of bloodshed
consider the strengths and weak- is. dead. As the state exists no more, but the rebels finally succeeded
nesses of the threat posed by the In theory, as the Islamic this puts serious questions on the in assassinating Ali. This group
ISK. State operates on the ideology viability of its affiliate province in was called Khawarij or Khariji,
Who are the IsK? of a global caliphate, ISK also, Khorasan as well. meaning people who withdrew
ISK was formed as a by definition, has a potential Second, extreme violence from the religion. The same
global ideological reach. It is practiced by the ISK may also theme is being played out today
Wilayah (province) of the ear- known to recruit from across be ultimately working against with some variations. The ISK
lier Islamic State of Syria and the world. It is noteworthy that them. The Taliban and many calls the Taliban Murtad or apos-
Levant (ISIL) in the year 2015. as per the reports, a terrorist other Muslims call the Islam- tate because, according to them,
It was initially said to be formed
by the disgruntled elements from Kerala was involved in ic State fighters as Khawarij, a by negotiating with the US the
of the Tahreek-e-Taliban Paki- the Kabul Gurudwara attack. term used for extremists who are Taliban have compromised. ISK
stan (TTP) in Orakzai agency Again, Islamic State is known considered as mischief mongers also finds the Taliban to be “na-
to use extreme and graphic vi- and even branded as non-Mus- tionalistic” which is also anti-Is-
of Pakistan, which then shifted olence to instil terror. Its ideol- lim. This ideological name call- lamic in its view. In this battle of
across the border to Nangar- ogy may also inspire lone wolf ing may not seem very import- narratives this label of Khawarij
har and Kunar in Afghanistan. attacks. A caveat may be neces- ant to an outsider but it remains on the ISK is a handicap in its
Subsequently, the disgruntled
elements of Taliban, Al Qaida sary here as many a times lone germane to the final outcome for wider growth and acceptance.
and Haqqani Network joined wolves find ISIL ideology con- the parties involved. The genesis Third, the ISK practices Tak-
the ISK. Their numbers are venient to justify their attacks. of this dispute is nearly as old as fir where they declare a Muslim
It is also seen that many a times Islam itself. During the reign of
estimated to be between 1,500 Continued on next page... >>
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