The Islamic State of Khorasan and the Prospect of Nuclear Jihad against Russia and Central Asia

The Islamic State of

Khorasan and the

Prospect of Nuclear

Jihad against Russia and

Central Asia

The Islamic State of Khorasan

and the

Prospect of Nuclear Jihad

against Russia and Central Asia

MUSA KHAN JALALZAI

Vij Books India Pvt Ltd

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Contents

Introduction

Summary

Chapter 1 ISIS in Pakistan: A Critical Analysis of Factors and Implications of ISIS Recruitments and Concept of Jihad-Bil-Nikah

Yunis Khushi

Chapter 2 The Islamic State in ‘Khorasan’: How it began and where it stands now in Nangarhar

Borhan Osman

Chapter 3 Making Sense of Daesh in Afghanistan: A Social Movement Perspective

Katja Mielke and Nick Miszak

Chapter 4 Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) in Afghanistan: An Assessment

Amina Khan

Chapter 5 The ISIS Penetration in Afghanistan-Pakistan: Assessment, Impact and Implications

Abdul Basit

Chapter 6 Double Game: Why Pakistan Supports Militants and Resists U.S. Pressure to Stop

Sahar Khan

Chapter 7 The Two Faces of the Fatemiyun: The Women behind the Fighters

Mohsen Hamidi

Chapter 8 Daesh in South Asia

Maryam Nazir

Chapter 9 Footprints of ISIS in South Asia: A Challenge to Regional Peace and Stability

Shabana Fayyaz

Notes to Chapters

Index

Introduction

It comes from history. It comes from the record of the Inquisition, persecuting heretics and torturing Jews and all that sort of stuff; and it comes from the other side, too, from the Protestants burning the Catholics. It comes from the insensate pursuit of innocent and crazy old women, and from the Puritans in America burning and hanging the witches, and it comes not only from the Christian church but also from the Taliban. Every single religion that has a monotheistic god ends up by persecuting other people and killing them because they don’t accept him. Wherever you look in history, you find that. It’s still going on.

–Philip Pullman

The United States expedition against Central Asia and Russia is at the end of the road. The exact number of ISIS cumulative force might overshoot 500,000 fighters and commanders as per the outstretched geographical structure of Russia and Central Asia. In this holy war, the use of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons cannot be ward off as the ISIS has already used these weapons in Syria, and Iraq. The Saudi, Qatar, China, and Pakistan’s jihadist groups are dancing to the US and NATO tangos, and playing as proxies in the ISIS brutal war against Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. In May 2017, Syrian Ambassador to China told reporters about the presence of more than 5000 Chinese Uyghur fighters in Syria. This figure was several times higher than the approximation of Chinese government. Pakistan has a long history of militants sponsorship. The military establishment played a central role in using militant groups as proxies in Afghanistan, and Kashmir. This sponsorship allowed Daesh to established strong military bases in Lahore, Gujrat, Bahawalpur, Sadiqabad, Rahimyar Khan, Sindh, and Baluchistan, and received military training in different military camps. Research scholar Dr. Yunis Khushi in his recent paper has noted details of this recruitment process in his research paper:

The recruitments for ISIS have been going on in Pakistan for the past more than 3 years, but the Foreign and the Interior Ministries of Pakistan have been constantly denying the presence and activities of ISIS in Pakistan. Law Enforcement agencies have very recently arrested many people from Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi and Sialkot who were associated with ISIS networks. Men have been recruited as jihadist or mujahids and women as jihadist wives to provide sexual needs of fighters who are fighting in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Many women, impressed and convinced through brainwashing with the concept of Jihad-Bil-Nikah, got a divorce from their Pakistani husbands and went to marry a Mujahid of ISIS for a certain period, came back gave birth to the child of Mujahid, and remarried their former husband. Some decide to continue that marriage for the rest of their lives. All of this is being done to obtain worldly wealth and later eternal life in Heaven because ISIS is paying something around 50,000 to 60,000 Rupees per month to every warrior.

The Islamic State (Waqar Ahmed-18 June 2019) opened its Pakistan branch with the name of Wilayah of Pakistan-a move aiming at luring local militants who are largely on the run. However, in his Defense Post article, Robert Postings (25 May 2019) highlighted the establishment of Daesh networks in Baluchistan province, and also noted the creation of Pakistan chapter of Khorasan, and al-Hind province: On May 14, 2019, the ISIS issued several claims for attacks in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Kunduz provinces, all attributed to Wilayah Khorasan. This suggests that, for the time being at least, Khorasan Province still exists but is much reduced geographically. The creation of Pakistan and al-Hind provinces follows significant recent restructuring of ISIS provinces. In July 2018, ISIS upgraded their affiliate in East Asia to a full Wilayah, and later that year merged multiple Wilayah in countries that contained more than one into a single entity covering the entire country. This was most noticeable in Iraq and Syria where more than a dozen provinces become just Wilayah Sham and Wilayah Iraq, but Yemen and Libya were also rationalized.

Prominent analyst Sara Mahmood (The Diplomat, 12 January 2019) in her paper noted vulnerability of Chinese worker and the threat of ISIS, Taliban and Uyghur militant’s operations in Pakistan. She also noted resentment of local jihadists against the presence of Chinese in Baluchistan province: In 2019, Chinese economic projects, nationals, and interests will be vulnerable to terrorist attacks in Pakistan due to close bilateral ties and the significant Chinese physical presence in the country. The perception of China as a ‘colonizing power’ and its treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang will aggravate China’s existing vulnerability. The terrorist threat will not emanate only from Baloch separatist groups, but also Islamist terrorist entities, such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State’s (ISIS) local affiliates in the country......... Baloch insurgent groups have displayed hostility toward the Chinese presence in Pakistan, with the province already rife with anti-Pakistan and separatist sentiments for decades. These ethno-nationalist groups perceive the Chinese presence as exploitation of local resources, referring to China as a ‘colonizing power’ next to Pakistan.

Moreover, two years ago, Tony Cartalucci (Global Research, July 02, 2017) had warned in his article that the United States policymakers wanted to disrupt China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and noted the encirclement of Iran for the purposes of regime change: Baluchistan, and more specifically, the port city of Gwadar, serves as the central nexus of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It is a complex and expanding system of rail, roads, ports, and other infrastructure projects built jointly with the Pakistani government to facilitate regional economic growth – and an integral component of the much larger One Belt, One Road initiative. Disrupting China’s economic lifelines to the rest of the world is an open objective of US policymakers. A paper published in 2006 by the Strategic Studies Institute titled, String of Pearls: Meeting the Challenge of China’s Rising Power across the Asian Littoral. identified Gwadar by name as one of several components of China’s String of Pearls...........Creating violence in Baluchistan, Pakistan thus serves to not only mire Chinese ambitions across Asia, but it also assists Washington’s long-standing objective to encircle Iran with hostile state and non-state actors ahead of eventual regime change operations against Tehran".

All these developments and strategies in Afghanistan and Pakistan are handwriting on the wall. The ISIS affiliate known as the Islamic State of Khorasan receives around $300 million each year from outside donors, mostly individuals from Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Salafi Jihadism has become a serious challenge in Central Asia that encompasses five states–Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Analyst Uran Botobekov (19 May 2019) in his paper notes the existence of the members of Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in various provinces of Afghanistan: The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan still commands about 500 fighters in Afghanistan, concentrated in Faryab, Sari Pul, Jowzjan, Kunduz, Baghlan, Takhar and Badakhshan provinces. Around another 500 Central Asian fighters are distributed between Khatibat Imam Al-Bukhari, Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad, Islamic Jihad Union….....This Russian and Turkic-speaking terrorist groups are trusted by al Qaeda and Taliban leaders and have become a link in their strategic ties.

Their relationship with extremist and terrorist groups such as the ISIS, Taliban and militant groups of South Asia and the Middle East has been consecutively good and friendly since 1980s. In January 2019, a Central Asian terrorist group Katibat Tawhid wal Jihad (KTJ) publicly renewed its Bayat (oath of allegiance) to Ayman al-Zawahiri, an al Qaeda’s global chief. The Uyghur Muslim militant group of Xinxiang and Salafists of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) also took the oath of allegiance to al Qaeda. However, women from Central Asia in Syria and Iraq wars held important positions and performed differently within the Islamic caliphate as well. All-women unit, specifically, the Al Khansaa Brigade, established by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was known to have two Central Asian women as members. The Al Khansaa Brigade served as a model for female ISIS fighters all over the world, including female fighters from Central and Southeast Asia. With the establishment of the ISIS terrorist State, women role in battlefield and Nikah-Bil-Jihad exacerbated. In Pakistan’s richest city-Sialkot, women are being recruited for the Daesh army to fight against local forces. Analyst Sudha Ramachandran in her article (09 August 2019) highlighted women role in South Asia militant organizations:

Women have played a significant role in South Asia’s many militant organizations. In addition to political work, women—who comprised a third of the fighting forces of Maoist groups in India and Nepal—engaged in combat. A few were in senior positions in these organizations. Islamist and jihadist groups in the region are widely perceived to have avoided recruiting women, especially as combatants. This is a misperception, which stems from the fact that Islamist groups are deeply patriarchal, misogynist and opposed to women entering the public space. Indeed, Islamist militants expect women to confine themselves to the domestic space and traditional domestic roles........Among the main reasons for women being recruited for terrorist activities are that they are often not suspected of being terrorists. Neither are they searched due to local customs and traditions. Hence, women on terror missions are able to get past checkpoints or enter tightly guarded installations more easily than men. The all-enveloping burqa they wear facilitates the carrying of weapons by women and even conceals explosives that are strapped to the body of female suicide bombers.

In his critical analysis, Connor Dilleen (30 May 2019-The growing Islamic State threat in Central Asia) spotlighted number of extremist elements-those participated in the civil war of Syria and Iraq: The number of Central Asian foreign fighters tells only part of the story of potential support for IS across the region. The Soufan Group’s 2017 report indicated that while around 500 Kazakh nationals successfully travelled to Syria or Iraq, nearly 2,000 were stopped in Turkey. Similarly, around 1,500 Tajiks successfully travelled to IS territory, but around 3,000 were stopped or turned back in Turkey. Figures for interdictions of other Central Asian nationalities aren’t available, but it appears that the 3,000–5,000 Central Asians who made it to IS territory may have been just a small proportion of those who tried to do so. While there’s evidence that some of them may have been radicalized while working in Russia, high-profile cases such as the former head of Tajikistan’s police special operations who became IS’s ‘war minister’ suggest that IS may have broader appeal in Central Asia.

Recital of war on natural resources in Afghanistan has all but disappeared from print and electronic media due to the ignorance and obiter-dictum of Afghan leadership, intellectuals and journalists. The Khorasan (ISISK) terrorist group has already taken advantage of billion dollars worth precious stones in Achin district of Jalalabad province, while Taliban and several other extremist groups finance their terror outfits by an illegal business of gold and narcotics drug. These groups are estimated to be making around $300 million a year from Afghanistan’s mineral wealth in Jalalabad province. When Taliban terrorist group is faced shortage of funds, they resort to illegal mining and drug trafficking by establishing check posts to collect taxes from truck drivers. The Taliban often target staff of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum simply to restrict the government’s activities in mining areas. For example, the Taliban carried out a suicide attack on employees of Ministry of Mines and Petroleum in March 2017 that killed 38 people, mostly employees, and wounded dozens more. Explosions, gunfire torture, kidnapping and deaths have become daily business of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. American sponsored private militias are killing innocent civilians-destroying their houses, rape women, and kidnap their children in night raids. Global Research (06 August 2019) published a heartbreaking report of True Publica, describes torture, humiliation and rape in US secret prisons:

"Between 2001 and 2009, the CIA established a global network of secret prisons (‘black sites’) for the purpose of detaining terrorism suspects, in secret and indefinitely, and interrogating them through the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The abuses which took place were severe, sustained, and in clear violation of domestic and international law. The perpetrators have never been held to account. The Rendition Project’s website (www.therenditionproject.org.uk), provide the most detailed public account to date of the CIA torture programme. Many prisoners, it turned out, was there on the basis of malicious, false or inaccurate information, had been handed over by bounty hunters, or had been imprisoned because they wore a certain type of Casio watch. These were the people the Bush administration called ‘the worst of the worst’. Prisoners were drugged, shackled, hooded and strapped to stretchers by rendition teams dressed entirely in black and communicating only in sign language. Some were placed in coffins during the flight; others were beaten repeatedly during their transfer. This procedure was designed, in the words of one memo, to create ‘significant apprehension in the detainee because of the enormity and suddenness of the change in the environment, the uncertainty about what will happen next, and the potential dread they might have of US custody. Interrogations involved being severely beaten, and repeatedly slammed against walls. Others were subjected to water torture which induced vomiting, hypothermia and unconsciousness. Men were raped, mutilated, and threatened with guns, drills and being buried alive. They were strapped to chairs and to tables. They were hung upside down and beaten. They were chained to the floor in ways making it impossible to stand or sit. They were deliberately, systematically dehumanized in an attempt by interrogators to exert complete control. Prisoners were held in complete darkness for months on end, chained to bars in the ceiling and forced to soil them. Continual loud music, combined with extended sleep deprivation, dietary manipulation and stress positioning were deployed to reduce men to a completely dependent state".

Even after forty years of consecutive violence, they want more destruction, killings and expansion of their criminal trade across Central Asia. In April 2019, a pretrial chamber of judges at the ICC at The Hague, Netherlands, rejected chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s investigation request into alleged war crimes committed by the US military, the CIA, the Afghan National Army, the NDS, the ISIS, and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The ICC acknowledged that there was a reasonable basis to believe that the contextual elements of both crimes against humanity and war crimes are satisfied in respect of the alleged events, and that the prosecution had met the necessary grounds of jurisdiction, admissibility, and gravity. In April 2017, the US army crashed ‘Mother of All Bombs’, into a hillside in the district of Achin in Jalalabad province-killing numerous Afghan children and women. No single ISKP commander or leader was killed.

American warlord, Erik Prince, the founder of a private military company (Blackwater), once again concentrated on natural resources in Afghanistan, to finance his militia (approximately 600,000) in Afghanistan. Moreover, decision of Mr. Trump to pardon US soldiers who killed innocent children and women in Afghanistan was just one way, in which Washington avoided accountability for their war crimes, because they were Ghazis. These US war criminals including a sarcastic soldier who admitted to murder in Afghanistan in 2010, New York Times reported. To avoid worldwide condemnation, the US first revoked the visa of Fatou Bensouda, the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor, who had initiated the investigation request, then threatened to revoke visas of ICC staff and judges who participated in investigation process against the US. The decision to abandon a war crimes investigation came as a slap in the face of Afghans, who filed an astounding 1.17 million statements on abuses ranging from sexual abuse and torture to outright murders against the US and CIA, as well as other factions involved in the Afghan conflict.

The ISIL is seen as an even greater threat than the Taliban because of its increasingly sophisticated military capabilities and its strategy of targeting civilians, both in Afghanistan and abroad. Today, ISIL in Afghanistan maintains army of thousands fighters-many from Central Asia and the Arab states, Chechnya, India, Bangladesh, and Uighurs jihadists from China. The group has long been based in the Eastern Nangarhar province, but has a strong presence in Northern Afghanistan as well. On 11 March 2017, Daesh militants beheaded three civilians in the Achin district of Eastern Nangarhar province. The governor’s spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, told Pajhwok Afghan News agency that the men beheaded in Momand Dara locality had been kidnapped by the group. The victims were 25, 15 and 17 years old.

Intentional killing of children and women in Afghan towns and cities by the US forces painted an ugly picture of the US war on the people of Afghanistan. Afghan officials likewise warned that ISIS-Khorasan benefited from surges of thousands of foreign fighters from Pakistan and Uzbekistan, plus the inflow of hundreds of ISIS fighters fleeing from Syria. The Islamic Terrorist State used nuclear and biological weapons in Iraq and Syria and killed thousand children and women. Prominent Indian research scholar and analyst, Manish Rai noted in his recent article in the Times of Israel (14 May 2019) that the Islamic State had become a permanent threat to the National Army of Afghanistan:

Islamic State Afghanistan claimed responsibility for an attack on the communication ministry building centrally located in capital Kabul last month. The Islamic State’s local arm has repeatedly targeted both official and civilian facilities, as well as religious gatherings, in the Afghan capital. The Afghan affiliate of IS, commonly known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISK), has been active in the war-torn country since 2015, fighting the Taliban as well as Afghan security forces. But recently they have carried out some bold attacks to make their presence felt. IS Khorasan has received significant support from the Islamic State’s core leadership in Iraq and Syria since its founding in the year 2015. But now as the Islamic State has lost its core territory, it might turn to Afghanistan as a base for its global caliphate. Even a recent United Nations publication commented that ‘ISIS core continues to facilitate the relocation of some of its key operatives to Afghanistan’. The United States military estimates there are about 2,000 Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan but despite their small number still they pose a grave threat. That’s why United States drops one of the largest bombs in its inventory, the MOAB, on a cave complex used by the ISIS terrorists in eastern Afghanistan in April, 2017.

Russia’s top intelligence official, the FSB Chief Mr. Alexander Bortnikov, (Ayaz Gul 15 May 2019) also warned that 5,000 Daesh fighters, many of whom fought in Syria, were massing along Afghanistan’s Northern Border, potentially threatening former Soviet states in the region. Bortnikov made these comments while visiting Tajikistan. The threat of nuclear terrorism, dirty bomb and use of nuclear explosive devices by ISIS in Central Asia and Russia has precipitated consternation and fear that these weapons might cause huge fatalities in the region. Research reports have documented thousands of radicals from Central Asia travelled to fight alongside ISIS in Syria and Iraq and hundreds more were retrieving training of dangerous weapons in Afghanistan and Pakistan to participate in the undeclared war of the United States-NATO and Pakistan against Russia. The Islamic Terrorist State is striving to build a dirty bomb, and use it in Central Asia and Russia.

The issue of nuclear smuggling and dirty bomb material has jeopardized national security of Central Asia. Recent media reports identified Moldovan criminal groups that attempted to smuggle radioactive materials to Daesh in 2015. Between January and June 2016, there were three incidents in Georgia where groups attempted to smuggle radioactive material, specifically Cesium 137 and Uranium 235 and 238, presumably to Turkey. On 07 October 2015, Associated Press report highlighted activity in Moldova over the last five years that involved small quantities of uranium, as well as the radioactive material cesium. The sellers, according to the report, hoped the material would find its way into the hands of Islamic State who wants to use it in Russia and Central Asia.

Graham Allison (September/October 2004, Russia in Global Affairs) in his comprehensive analysis had warned that extremist groups in Chechnya and Central Asia were seeking nuclear and radioactive materials to use it against Russia: Chechen separatists have had a long-standing interest in acquiring nuclear weapons and material to use in their campaign against Russia. In addition to surveying Kurchatov, Chechen militants have conducted surveillance of the railway system and special trains designed for shipping nuclear weapons across Russia. They also succeeded in acquiring radioactive materials from a Grozny nuclear waste plant in January 2000 and stealing radioactive metals–possibly including some plutonium – from the Volgodonskaya nuclear power station in the southern region of Rostov between July 2001 and July 2002. Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist organizations are among Chechen militants’ major sources of financial support. Al Qaeda operatives were alleged to have negotiated with Chechen separatists in Russia to buy a nuclear warhead, which the Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed to have acquired from Russian arsenals. While the Chechens’ target of choice for their first nuclear terrorist attack will surely be Moscow, if the Chechens are successful in acquiring several nuclear bombs, their Al Qaeda brethren would be likely consumers.

The ISIS’s presence in Pakistan was acknowledged as a threat in February 2015 by various media sources, despite the country’s Foreign Ministry denied its presence. The ISIS-KP’s main target has been Pakistan’s Shia population, while in 2018; ISIS-KP claimed five terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including four in Baluchistan. There are speculations that a large number of Pakistan army retired soldiers and officers joined the ISIS Khorasan network in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Analyst Abhinandan Mishra in his article (The Sunday Guardian 30 September 2017) reported the petition of an agent of Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau (IB) who repudiated his senior officers for their involvement with regional terrorist organizations-operating within that country. The petitioner approached the court when faced with marked reluctance on part of the Pakistani IB to act on his reports against various terrorist groups having roots in Uzbekistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and India. The petitioner had prepared these reports following a thorough intelligence gathering process. The Sunday Guardian accessed a copy of the petition that was filed by advocate Masroor Shah in the Islamabad High Court on behalf of Malik Mukhtar Ahmad Shahzad, an assistant sub-inspector rank officer with the Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau, who is currently posted at the organization’s headquarters in Islamabad.

A single bench of IHC comprising of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui heard the contempt petition of IB Assistant Sub-Inspector Malik Mukhtar Ahmad Shahzad and directed Interior Secretary to submit his reply in this matter in two weeks. Earlier, the same IHC bench had directed Interior Secretary to probe this sensitive matter and submit report before the court. Justice Siddiqui had also directed to take immediate measures for the protection of national interests. However, on 06 October 2017, Dawn reported more than 37 PML parliamentarians staged a walkout from the National Assembly after they were accused by the IB report of having links with terrorist organizations. While addressing the participants in assembly, Federal Minister Riaz Peerzada said that the government should launch an investigation into the matter and unveil the name of the person who prepared the report. He further warned of staging walkout on daily basis against his own government until the explanation from senior leaders in the House is given.

The Economic Times (24 February 2016) report also identified Pakistan’s military support to the ISIS militants in Afghanistan, and instructed them to kill the infidel-Afghan security forces, according to a 10-member faction of the group who laid down their arms in battlefield. The group also said that Pakistani military provided light and heavy weapons to ISIS fighters in Afghanistan: Pakistani military gave us weapons and used to tell us that Afghan forces are infidels and you must kill them, Zaitoon, a former ISIS fighter who laid down his arms and joined the peace talks. The newspaper reported. The newspaper also noted the US army collaboration with the ISIS terrorist group: The US military is allegedly allowing members of the ISIS, which have suffered serious defeats in Syria and neighboring Iraq, to infiltrate Afghanistan even as the US is engaged with peace talks with Taliban for sake of stability in the landlocked country. There are allegations that weapons are often transferred to the territory of Afghanistan by helicopters without identifying insignia. Afghan officials arrested 10 other ISIS facilitators during a separate operation in Nangarhar province. 12,500 kilograms of explosives were seized during the same operation. Afghan Special Forces, ISIS and the Taliban are preparing for a three-way battle in eastern Afghanistan.

On 10 July 2019, Al Qaeda Chief called on jihadists in Kashmir to launch unrelenting blows against India as the country attacked Pakistan’s army. Ayman al-Zawahiri used a video statement to call militants to wage attacks to bleed the Indian economy and make India suffer sustained losses in manpower and equipment. Militant groups have fought troops in Kashmir for decades, but violence has increased in recent years as Delhi waged a heavy-handed crackdown against protestors. On 20 February 2017, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan handed a list of at least 32 terrorist training camps in Pakistan. The list was delivered by Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan as tensions between the two nations mounted in the aftermath of a deadly blast in a Sufi shrine in Pakistan’s Sindh province. The blast left 75 people dead and hundreds wounded. Press release of the Afghan government noted: The letter also added a list of at least 85 Taliban operatives and their leaders in Pakistan. It included other terrorist groups such as the Haqqani terrorist network which have conducted major crimes against the people of Afghanistan to Pakistan. This was with the intention that Pakistan launches a crackdown against the insurgent groups and hand over the terrorists to the government of Afghanistan, the press release added.

Musa Khan Jalalzai

London, September 2019

Summary

When we see religion split into so many thousands of sects, and I may say Christianity itself divided into its thousands also, who are disputing, anathematizing and where the laws permit burning and torturing one another for abstractions which no one of them understand, and which are indeed beyond the comprehension of the human mind, into which of the chambers of this Bedlam would a man wish to thrust himself. [Letter to George Logan, 12 November 1816].

– Thomas Jefferson

The US, NATO, and Afghan forces have perpetrated wall-to-wall war crimes in Afghanistan by using nuclear, and biological weapons and the Mother of Bombs against children and women. They humiliated Afghan prisoners by managing dog-rape in one of their torture chambers. In 2010, an American soldier deliberately killed Afghan citizens for sport. Global Research, on 25 November 2018, published revelations of Afghan writer, analyst, and representative of Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) on the intentional killings of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Mrs. Fariba spotlighted the US-Taliban-ISIS’s Tom & Jerry endless game on the local chessboard: The ISIS and Taliban serve a dual purpose for the US in Afghanistan. While the UN’s shameful past is one of a pro-US body, the ICC has yet to earn this unpopular status. The present wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria are also testing grounds for the ICC to establish whether it is an impartial body that will go after all war criminals, or just be a pro-US body that ignores the crimes committed by the US and its allies and its puppets, like the UN............The majority of the attacks by the US are carried out without accurate intelligence and regard to civilian lives, resulting in bloody massacres through airstrikes, drone strikes, night raids, and shootings across Afghanistan.

On 14 November 2013, Global Research in its report also documented some aspects of US army war crimes in Afghanistan: The US war criminals remain unpunished. Accountability is denied. Conflict persists. Trillions of dollars go mass slaughter and destruction. They’re spent for unchallenged global dominance. Children were massacred while they slept. Women were raped before soldiers killed them. Pentagon officials and mainstream media whitewashed what happened. Seventeen Afghan men were detained. They disappeared. Residents found 10 buried in shallow graves. They were several hundred meters from where US forces are based.

In August 2019, the Islamic terrorist state killed 100 people in Kabul. On 20 August 2019, Mohammad Zahir Akbari in his article noted reaction of different political and religious circles in Afghanistan: The attack on the wedding party was widely condemned by government leaders, politicians and foreign diplomats who called it a terrorist attack against Afghan civilians. However, the people are not satisfied with just oral denouncement of the officials and international friends; Many Afghan people, especially social network users call on the government to announce Monday as national mourning while millions of money has been invested to celebrate the hundredth Day of Independence in the same day. People extremely blame the security forces for inability, corruption and inattention to the sensitive security situation. They also blamed government for no serious measures against cruel attacks launched successively.

In his interview with Democracy Now, an Afghan victim of war, Basir Bita described his pain after the ISIS terror attack in Kabul: Before speaking about the reactions of Afghans regarding to the incident, I would like to speak about myself. I lost my grandparents. I lost my uncles, my aunts, very close friends, nieces, nephews over the last two decades. And speaking about the accounts, personally, I feel frustrated, because of the—though the government claims that it was an organized event, but today I heard that president’s national security adviser, several hours before the bomb was launched, he was on the scene assessing the area. And the other one is myself. I don’t want to lose any other Afghans. I don’t want to lose any other friends in the area. I mean, it’s—as Hakim phrased it, it’s an insult to all Afghans. The attack on the wedding party was widely condemned by government leaders, politicians and foreign diplomats who called it a terrorist attack against Afghan civilians. President Ghani also condemned the inhumane attack on the wedding hall. My top priority, for now, is to assist the families of victims in the barbaric attack, he said. "

On 20 August 2019, Daily Outlook Afghanistan in its editorial commentary expressed deep concerns on the suffering of Afghan citizens: Afghans suffered severely in the wake of political upheavals throughout the history and paid heavy sacrifices for democratic principles. Political symptoms and civil unrest took their toll on people’s life, freedoms, and dignity. The pain and anguish of Afghan people within the last four decades of conflict and civil unrest is indescribable. The natural and inherent rights and freedoms of individuals were violated flagrantly. Although relative freedoms and moderate approaches of kings and political leaders generated a gleam of hope for Afghans for a peaceful and prosperous life, the pain continues unabated as peace remains elusive.

The Kabul attack was followed by multiple bomb blasts in Jalalabad city, provincial capital of Nangarhar and mortar attack on the Mehtarlam city, capital of the neighboring province of Laghman. At least 10 roadside bombs exploded in different parts of Jalalabad city in which, according to local officials, 70 civilians were injured. Another bomb blast targeted a group of people who were celebrating Independence Day in Kabul. These were new military tactics of the ISIS and US army commanders to kill innocent civilians with impunity. The Islamic State most often claimed the responsibility for such attacks on civilians. In fact, they made a habit of going after minority groups, particularly Shias. The Takfiri group aims to spread fear among the Afghan population, choosing targets to inflict maximum civilian casualties. The Taliban, on the other hand, goes after the state, hoping to weaken the government and law enforcement as it tries to gain control of more territory.

The US military allegedly allowed emergence of ISIS terrorist group in Afghanistan. There are speculations that weapons were often transferred to the Northern provinces by helicopters without identifying insignia. On 12 March 2018, Iran accused the United States of helping Islamic State militants in Afghanistan to fuel regional tension. Visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made these allegations while speaking to a gathering of diplomats, scholars and journalists in Islamabad. He said U.S. helicopters were found transporting ISIS members from the eastern Afghan district of Haska Meyna, also called Deh Bala, to unknown locations. We see intelligence, as well as eyewitness accounts, that Daesh fighters, terrorists, were airlifted from battle zones, rescued from battle zones, including recently from the prison of Haska [Meyna], On 25 July 2019, Pakistan’s former Interior Minister, Senator Dr. Rehman Malik in his analysis admitted the ISIS terrorist group strong network in various districts of Punjab, including Daska of Sialkot district and warned that the network of this groups will make thing worse:

Daesh’s presence in Afghanistan and the rest of the region is an alarming threat to the whole world as the deadly terrorist group is replacing Al-Qaeda & Taliban through a well-planned strategy. I was the one who first-ever named Taliban as Zaliman for their brutalities against humanity. Daesh is worse than the Taliban, which is now trying to bring a new ideology as Daesh-ism which is anti – Islam. I kept chasing and reported activities of Daesh other sources and discovered the first-ever presence of Daesh in Daska area of Sialkot and its further expansion to the Southern Punjab and finally its presence were reported in Kalar Syedan, near the Capital. Omar Khalid Khorasani claimed to be the local representative of Daesh. In the mid of 2014, in a Press Conference in Islamabad, I had stated that I had warned the then government that instead of remaining in a state of denial, it should take serious action before Daesh spreads like Taliban and may push the country into another phase of terrorism. Despite my repeated warnings, the Government of the time was not prepared to accept its presence, but I continued my chase and the country witnessed the terrorist actions in Pakistan claimed by Daesh. However, our security agencies have been playing a great role in identifying its operators and smashing the handlers and blocking their entry on the Afghan border.

On 30 July 2018, The Strait Times reported a mother of three from a remote area of north-western Afghanistan was raped by the ISIS commander, and her husband was killed. The Afghan woman said; I told him we didn’t have any money but that if we found any we would send it to him. But he didn’t accept that and said I had to be married to one of his people and leave my husband and go with them, Ms Zarifa said. When I refused, the people he had with him took my children to another room and he took a gun and said if I didn’t go with him he would kill me and take my house. And he did everything he could to me. Even by the bloody standards of the Afghan war, ISIS has gained an unmatched reputation for brutality, routinely beheading opponents or forcing them to sit on explosives.

The only Afghan war criminal that politically and financially supported atrocities of the Daesh terrorist group in Jalalabad province is a notorious land-grabber Muhammad Gulab Mengal (former governor of Jalalabad). Mr. Gulab Mengal has been the main focus of local and international newspapers due to his collaboration with the ISIS