Why Afghanistan is once again a hotbed of terrorism

The Taliban is under pressure, facing an increasing number of attacks from terror groups seeking to undermine its rule and destabilise Afghanistan. However, this is a problem of the Taliban’s own making. The Taliban’s acting refugee minister Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani was killed in a suicide bombing earlier this month. Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid called the bombing, which reportedly killed and wounded several other ministry employees, a “cowardly attack”. Haqqani is the highest-ranking leader in the Taliban-led administration to be killed since the group re-took power in August 2021. He is the brother of Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the Haqqani Network, and uncle of acting interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani. The family are key power brokers in Afghanistan, viewed as a more pragmatic faction vying for influence against the more extreme elements of Taliban leadership, who adhere to a strict interpretation of Islam. Islamic State Khorasan (or Isis-K) quickly claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing this month, reportedly saying that its agent Abu Usman Khorasani evaded security to kill Haqqani. The group is an offshoot of Islamic State and seeks to create a caliphate across South and Central Asia. Since 2021, the Taliban has claimed to have improved the security situation in Afghanistan by reining in Isis-K but the facts on the ground tell a different story. The killing of Haqqani follows other attacks on the Taliban. Isis-K has claimed responsibility for the killing of the Taliban’s governor of Balkh province, Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, in March 2023 as well as the killings of the acting governor of Badakhshan, Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, in June 2023. It is reportedly behind the killing of former Taliban police commander Safi Sameem and senior Taliban commander Hamidullah Noorzi. The country has also witnessed a surge in Isis-K attacks targeting civilians, particularly minority Shia and Hazara communities. This includes the killing of 14 Hazara Afghans in Daikundi province and a suicide bombing in Kabul that killed six people in September. In March, 21 people were killed in a bombing in Kandahar and two died in an attack in Kabul in January. Worryingly, Isis-K’s reach has spilled across Afghanistan’s borders. In March, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow, Russia, which killed at least 140 people and wounded more than 500. This was after Isis-K carried out a suicide bombing in the Iranian city of Kerman in January, killing 84 people, and a church shooting in Istanbul, Turkey, that killed one person. The situation is clearly spiralling out of control, and the Taliban can only blame itself for the rise of terrorism in Afghanistan. During its 20-year insurgency, the Taliban trained hundreds of suicide bombers to carry out attacks on Western and Afghan government forces and terrorise the civilian population throughout the country. The Haqqani Network is responsible for several attacks that killed hundreds of Afghan civilians. The network was subsequently designated a security threat by the UN. Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani himself was formally labelled a terrorist in 2011 by the US government. The Taliban and the Haqqani Network normalised the use of terror in Afghanistan, which laid the deadly blueprint that Isis-K is using today. Despite denials, the Taliban likely remains close to terror group al-Qaeda, which the UN warns may have once again established a significant presence in Afghanistan, including training camps and stockpiles of weapons. The US State Department’s annual report on terrorism, published earlier this month, indicates the Taliban has not severed ties with al-Qaeda. This was already a poorly kept secret, with then-al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri killed in a US drone strike on a guest house reportedly owned by none other than Sirajuddin Haqqani in 2022. Meanwhile, the Taliban also has its own affiliates that are causing havoc in the region. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan – or TTP – has carried out a number of recent attacks in Pakistan. The TTP is supported by the Taliban and clearly growing in strength, with the Pakistani representative to the UN claiming that 6,000 TTP fighters are operating in Pakistan. This is harming the Taliban’s relationship with its neighbours. The Taliban has accused Pakistan of conducting air strikes in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan has expelled tens of thousands of Afghans from Pakistan citing security concerns. The situation is also testing the Taliban’s relationship with China, which held joint counterterrorism military exercises with Pakistan last month, weeks after an attack in Karachi killed two Chinese nationals. In March, five Chinese nationals were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in a suicide bombing that officials believe is linked to the TTP. Afghanistan is again a base for terror groups and, in the case of al-Qaeda and the TPP, it seems to be with the full backing of the Taliban. This is a nightmare scenario for the regime. The Taliban craves legitimacy from the wider international community, and that will never come while Afghanistan is a hotbed of terrorism, with armed groups carrying out attacks at home and abroad. It also makes the Taliban look weak in the eyes of the Afghan people who were promised security under the new regime. With the Taliban failing to improve the lives of the people and increasingly clamping down on the rights of women and minority groups, its mantra of security through strength looks increasingly hollow. Afghanistan has a long history of sweeping aside bad rulers when they cannot solve the country’s problems and the Taliban is certainly not immune. The Taliban created the culture of terror it now faces, and it is now dealing with the consequences.

Why Afghanistan is once again a hotbed of terrorism

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}While the Taliban claims to have improved security in Afghanistan, terror attacks have only continued since the group seized power

While the Taliban claims to have improved security in Afghanistan, terror attacks have only continued since the group seized power