Regional Environment Behind Recent Terror Attacks Will Likely Support Extreme Groups
.By Amin Saikal
Regional Environment Behind Recent Terror Attacks Will Likely Support Extreme GroupsISIS-K via the internet
Last week’s terror attacks in Moscow and in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar have once again raised the spectre of international terrorism. According to U.S. officials, both attacks—in which dozens were killed and wounded—were claimed by the Khorasan branch of the so-called Islamic State (IS-K), although Putin has accused Western and Ukrainian intelligence of helping the jihadists. If IS-K is the culprit, it shows that the group has regained an operational capability not only to be active in Afghanistan but also to hit a target as far away as Moscow. Are we on the cusp of another wave of international terrorism by groups from within Afghanistan?
To discern how conducive it has become for IS-K or Al Qaeda’s network to carry out attacks like those in Moscow and Kandahar, we must look at the regional environment. Ever since the Taliban, an erstwhile terrorist organisation, returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the regional landscape has shifted considerably in favour of violent extremist groups. The U.S. and allied military retreat from the country further raised serious questions about the future of combating and containing terrorism. Seasoned analysts of Afghanistan and terrorism have remained sceptical about the re-empowered Taliban’s promise under the 2020 peace agreement with the U.S. to combat IS-K and sever ties with Al Qaeda.
On the surface, the Taliban have repeatedly declared success in fighting IS-K and denied any links with Al Qaeda, attracting some goodwill from Washington. But their claims ring hollow. The suicide bombing in Kandahar, the very heartland of the Taliban, and the Moscow operation under the very nose of the Kremlin, have demonstrated IS-K’s reach and capability.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2024/04/02/regional_environment_behind_recent_terror_attacks_will_likely_support_extreme_groups_1022279.html
