After a string of defeats in Iraq and Syria, ISIS Takfiri terrorists are now relocating to Afghanistan and neighboring states.
ISIS terrorists have almost completely been routed in Iraq and they will be eliminated from their last bastion in Mosul soon while in neighboring Syria, they have virtually been surrounded in their de facto capital, Raqqa.
As they face defeat, some of the terrorists are returning to their home countries in Europe where they are expected to spread mayhem, while many more a moving Central Asia and even further afield to Southeast Asia.
Central Asia appears more attractive to ISIS terrorists fleeing Iraq and Syria as they are able to establish base in Afghanistan where many areas of the vast country remain lawless and out of reach of the central government in Kabul.
US Evacuated ISIS terrorists from Raqqa
Sources in Syria say the US, which has long been accused of covertly backing ISIS terrorists for its nefarious objectives, has evacuated many top ISIS fighters and relocated them to the war theatre in Afghanistan. In May, local Syrian sources revealed that, US military helicopters evacuated a number of ISIS terrorist group commanders out of their stronghold in Syria's Raqqa taking them to an undisclosed destination.
Witnesses reported seeing US helicopters evacuate a number of ISIS Takfiri terrorist group commanders out of Raqqa and that most of them were Western nationals. A member of the People’s Council Ammar Assad confirmed that US forced Kurdish militants known as “Syrian Democratic Forces” to let scores of ISIS terrorists leave Raqqa. Syrian sources say many of these ISIS terrorists were airlifted to Afghanistan.
CIS states sound alarm
The head of the Anti-Terrorist Center (ATC) of the Commonwealth of Independent States Col. Gen. Andrey Novikov has warned that ISIS terrorists are seeking to shift the main focus of their activity from Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan and neighboring states especially the Islamic Republic of Iran
ISIS terrorist group seeks to subdue some Taliban militants and other local extremist groups to create a new power base in Afghanistan and extend its influence to Central Asia, Novikov warned as he addressed two UN Security Council committees Friday.
The terrorist group “exports a new model of extremist and terrorist activity from the battle zones [in Syria and Iraq] to the Central Asian states,” he said. He particularly emphasized that the growing Taliban activity in the northern regions of Afghanistan, bordering the Central Asian, states could be indicative of some Taliban commanders switching their allegiance and joining ISIS. While the Afghan Taliban and ISIS are often classified as Takfiri terrorist groups, the ideology of these two groups are different and even at odds with each other.
While ISIS seeks to establish a so-called caliphate which dominates all Muslim countries, the Afghan Taliban, accepts Afghanistan as a nation-state and its struggle is only limited to the country.
This is while in 2015 ISIS announced the creation of a new “province “or emirate known as Khorasan whose center is in Afghanistan that should include the territories of the Central Asian states.
Iran, Russia on Target
On June 20, the Pentagon issued a report, in which it said Afghanistan is “at a critical point” in its battle against multiple insurgencies and terrorist groups.
The US defense department conceded that sixteen years after the US-led invasion, Afghanistan still faces a “continuing threat” from as many as 20 insurgent and terrorist networks, calling it “the highest concentration of extremist and terrorist groups in the world.”
Analysts believe US motivation in moving ISIS to Afghanistan would be bringing the Takfiri terrorists closer to Russia and Iran. Zamir Kabulov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's director of the Second Asian Department in Afghanistan last September stated that, Moscow “is concerned over the rise of ISIS in Afghanistan because it has far-reaching geopolitical consequences for Russian safety.” The US bears responsibility for the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, he added. Pundits believe the US, which controls NATO forces in Afghanistan, can use ISIS terrorists in the country threaten and harm its traditional adversaries namely Russia and Iran.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/7288
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