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US Deploys Thousands of ISIS Fighters to Afghanistan
by Stephen Lendman | December 27, 2017
ISIS and other terrorists serve as US imperial forces in theaters where they're deployed.
US Deploys Thousands of ISIS Fighters to Afghanistan
by Stephen Lendman | December 27, 2017
ISIS and other terrorists serve as US imperial forces in theaters where they're deployed.
The Trump administration is now using ISIS in Afghanistan, a way to continue endless war. Earlier, the terrorist group announced the creation of a new "province" in the country, including territories of other Central Asian states.
With US training, funding, arming and direction, they're being used to create greater regional conflict and turmoil than already.
Moscow is focused on preventing ISIS and other terrorist groups from invading its territory, a key reason why it intervened in Syria at Assad's request – committed to defeating the scourge abroad rather than face it domestically.
Terrorist fighters are perilously close to its borders. Washington aims to import conflict and turmoil to its territory.
According to Russia's Foreign Ministry Middle East department head Zamir Kabulov, thousands of ISIS fighters moved from Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan, saying:
"Russia was among the first nations to ring alarm about the expansion of IS into Afghanistan."
"Lately, IS has boosted its presence in the country. Our estimate is that their force there is stronger than 10,000 troops and is continuing to grow. That includes new fighters with combat experience received in Syria and Iraq."
They didn't leave the Middle East for Central Asia on their own, Kabulov failed to explain. Washington redeployed them.
Relocating required circumventing Iran, traveling over 1,600 miles from Syria, around 1,400 miles from Iraq – Iranian territory bordering Afghanistan in its east, Iraq in the west.
They had to travel by air, unable to enter Iran by ground transportation. They'd be attacked and destroyed.
America has significant airlift capacity, able to transport large numbers of troops to any locations worldwide.
Kabulov said ISIS wants to expand its influence in Afghanistan and elsewhere in Central Asia.
He's partly right, omitting what's most important. As proxy US forces, ISIS goes where Washington wants its fighters sent.
Please go to Stephen Lendman's blog read more.
With US training, funding, arming and direction, they're being used to create greater regional conflict and turmoil than already.
Moscow is focused on preventing ISIS and other terrorist groups from invading its territory, a key reason why it intervened in Syria at Assad's request – committed to defeating the scourge abroad rather than face it domestically.
Terrorist fighters are perilously close to its borders. Washington aims to import conflict and turmoil to its territory.
According to Russia's Foreign Ministry Middle East department head Zamir Kabulov, thousands of ISIS fighters moved from Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan, saying:
"Russia was among the first nations to ring alarm about the expansion of IS into Afghanistan."
"Lately, IS has boosted its presence in the country. Our estimate is that their force there is stronger than 10,000 troops and is continuing to grow. That includes new fighters with combat experience received in Syria and Iraq."
They didn't leave the Middle East for Central Asia on their own, Kabulov failed to explain. Washington redeployed them.
Relocating required circumventing Iran, traveling over 1,600 miles from Syria, around 1,400 miles from Iraq – Iranian territory bordering Afghanistan in its east, Iraq in the west.
They had to travel by air, unable to enter Iran by ground transportation. They'd be attacked and destroyed.
America has significant airlift capacity, able to transport large numbers of troops to any locations worldwide.
Kabulov said ISIS wants to expand its influence in Afghanistan and elsewhere in Central Asia.
He's partly right, omitting what's most important. As proxy US forces, ISIS goes where Washington wants its fighters sent.
Please go to Stephen Lendman's blog read more.
________
Source: Consortium News
ISIS-Khorasan aims to prove to Afghans and to the outside world that the Taliban cannot secure the capital, writes Pepe Escobar.
August 27, 2021 | By Pepe Escobar | The Asia Times
The horrific Kabul suicide bombing introduces an extra vector in an already incandescent situation: It aims to prove to Afghans and to the outside world that the nascent Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is incapable of securing the capital.
As it stands, at least 103 people – 90 Afghans (including at least 28 Taliban) and 13 American servicemen – were killed [Editor's note: easy soft targets for impact] and at least 1,300 injured, according to the Afghan Health Ministry.
Responsibility for the bombing came via a statement on the Telegram [Editor's note: Telegram is monitored closely by Russia and Israel] channel of Amaq Media, the official Islamic State (ISIS) news agency. This means it came from centralized ISIS command, even as the perpetrators were members of ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K.
Presuming to inherit the historical and cultural weight of ancient Central Asian lands that from the time of imperial Persia stretched all the way to the western Himalayas, that spin-off defiles the name of Khorasan.
The suicide bomber who carried out "the martyrdom operation near Kabul airport" was identified as one Abdul Rahman al-Logari. That would suggest he's an Afghan, from nearby Logar province. And that would also suggest that the bombing may have been organized by an ISIS-Khorasan sleeper cell. Sophisticated electronic analysis of their communications would be able to prove it – tools that the Taliban don't have.
The way social media-savvy ISIS chose to spin the carnage deserves careful scrutiny. The statement on Amaq Media blasts the Taliban for being "in a partnership" with the U.S. military in the evacuation of "spies."
It mocks the "security measures imposed by the American forces and the Taliban militia in the capital Kabul," as its "martyr" was able to reach "a distance of no less than five meters from the American forces, who were supervising the procedures."
So it's clear that the newly reborn Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the former occupying power are facing the same enemy. ISIS-Khorasan comprises a bunch of fanatics, termed takfiris because they define fellow Muslims – in this case the Taliban – as "apostates."
Founded in 2015 by emigré jihadis dispatched to southwest Pakistan, ISIS-K is a dodgy beast. Its current head is one Shahab al-Mujahir, who was a mid-level commander of the Haqqani network headquartered in North Waziristan in the Pakistani tribal areas, itself a collection of disparate mujahideen and would-be jihadis under the family umbrella.
Washington branded the Haqqani network as a terrorist organization way back in 2010, and treats several members as global terrorists, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of the family after the death of the founder Jalaluddin.
Up to now, Sirajuddin was the Taliban deputy leader for the eastern provinces – on the same level with Mullah Baradar, the head of the political office in Doha, who was actually released from Guantanamo in 2014.
Crucially, Sirajuddin's uncle, Khalil Haqqani, formerly in charge of the network's foreign financing, is now in charge of Kabul security and working as a diplomat 24/7.
The previous ISIS-K leaders were snuffed out by U.S. airstrikes in 2015 and 2016. ISIS-K started to become a real destabilizing force in 2020 when the regrouped band attacked Kabul University, a Doctor Without Borders maternity ward, the presidential palace and the airport.
NATO intel picked up by a UN report attributes a maximum of 2,200 jihadis to ISIS-K, split into small cells. Significantly, the absolute majority are non-Afghans: Iraqis, Saudis, Kuwaitis, Pakistanis, Uzbeks, Chechens and Uighurs.
The real danger is that ISIS-K works as a sort of magnet for all manners of disgruntled former Taliban or discombobulated regional warlords with nowhere to go.
The Perfect Soft Target
Zabihullah Mujahid – the new Taliban minister of information in Kabul, who in that capacity talks to global media every day – is the one who actually warned NATO members about an imminent ISIS-K suicide bombing. Brussels diplomats confirmed it.
In parallel, it's no secret among intel circles in Eurasia that ISIS-K has become disproportionally more powerful since 2020 because of a transportation ratline from Idlib, in Syria, to eastern Afghanistan, informally known in spook talk as Daesh Airlines.
Moscow and Tehran, even at very high diplomatic levels, have squarely blamed the U.S.-U.K. axis as the key facilitators. Even the BBC reported in late 2017 on hundreds of ISIS jihadis given safe passage out of Raqqa, and out of Syria, right in front of the Americans.
The Kabul bombing took place after two very significant events.
The first one was Mujahid's claim during an American NBC News interview earlier this week that there is "no proof" Osama bin Laden was behind 9/11 – an argument that I had already hinted was coming in this podcast the previous week.
This means the Taliban have already started a campaign to disconnect themselves from the "terrorist” label associated with 9/11. The next step may involve arguing that the execution of 9/11 was set up in Hamburg, the operational details coordinated from two apartments in New Jersey.
Nothing to do with Afghans. And everything staying within the parameters of the official narrative – but that’s another immensely complicated story.
The Taliban will need to show that "terrorism" has been all about their lethal enemy, ISIS, and way beyond old school al-Qaeda, which they harbored up to 2001. But why should they be shy about making such claims? After all, the United States rehabilitated Jabhat Al-Nusra – or al-Qaeda in Syria – as "moderate rebels."
The origin of ISIS is incandescent material. ISIS was spawned in Iraq prison camps, its core made of Iraqis, their military skills derived from ex-officers in Saddam's army, [Editor's note: spawned out of Camp Bucca.] a wild bunch fired way back in 2003 by Paul Bremmer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
ISIS-K duly carries the work of ISIS from Southwest Asia to the crossroads of Central and South Asia in Afghanistan. There's no credible evidence that ISIS-K has ties with Pakistani military intel.
On the contrary: ISIS-K is loosely aligned with the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, Islamabad's mortal enemy. TTP's agenda has nothing to do with the moderate Mullah Baradar-led Afghan Taliban who participated in the Doha process.
Please go to Consortium News to read more.
The Pentagon blames the Taliban for releasing these prisoners. The CIA was in direct talks with the Taliban leadership. Why would the Taliban release thousands of prisoners the US had rounded up over 20 years?
August 27, 2021 | By Pepe Escobar | The Asia Times
The horrific Kabul suicide bombing introduces an extra vector in an already incandescent situation: It aims to prove to Afghans and to the outside world that the nascent Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is incapable of securing the capital.
As it stands, at least 103 people – 90 Afghans (including at least 28 Taliban) and 13 American servicemen – were killed [Editor's note: easy soft targets for impact] and at least 1,300 injured, according to the Afghan Health Ministry.
Responsibility for the bombing came via a statement on the Telegram [Editor's note: Telegram is monitored closely by Russia and Israel] channel of Amaq Media, the official Islamic State (ISIS) news agency. This means it came from centralized ISIS command, even as the perpetrators were members of ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K.
Presuming to inherit the historical and cultural weight of ancient Central Asian lands that from the time of imperial Persia stretched all the way to the western Himalayas, that spin-off defiles the name of Khorasan.
The suicide bomber who carried out "the martyrdom operation near Kabul airport" was identified as one Abdul Rahman al-Logari. That would suggest he's an Afghan, from nearby Logar province. And that would also suggest that the bombing may have been organized by an ISIS-Khorasan sleeper cell. Sophisticated electronic analysis of their communications would be able to prove it – tools that the Taliban don't have.
The suicide bomber Abdul Rahman al-Logari as presented by ISIS propaganda. (Handout / Daesh) [Editor's note: ISIS-K has an amazing public relations office set up with some amazing capabilities.]
It mocks the "security measures imposed by the American forces and the Taliban militia in the capital Kabul," as its "martyr" was able to reach "a distance of no less than five meters from the American forces, who were supervising the procedures."
So it's clear that the newly reborn Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the former occupying power are facing the same enemy. ISIS-Khorasan comprises a bunch of fanatics, termed takfiris because they define fellow Muslims – in this case the Taliban – as "apostates."
Founded in 2015 by emigré jihadis dispatched to southwest Pakistan, ISIS-K is a dodgy beast. Its current head is one Shahab al-Mujahir, who was a mid-level commander of the Haqqani network headquartered in North Waziristan in the Pakistani tribal areas, itself a collection of disparate mujahideen and would-be jihadis under the family umbrella.
Washington branded the Haqqani network as a terrorist organization way back in 2010, and treats several members as global terrorists, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of the family after the death of the founder Jalaluddin.
Up to now, Sirajuddin was the Taliban deputy leader for the eastern provinces – on the same level with Mullah Baradar, the head of the political office in Doha, who was actually released from Guantanamo in 2014.
Crucially, Sirajuddin's uncle, Khalil Haqqani, formerly in charge of the network's foreign financing, is now in charge of Kabul security and working as a diplomat 24/7.
The previous ISIS-K leaders were snuffed out by U.S. airstrikes in 2015 and 2016. ISIS-K started to become a real destabilizing force in 2020 when the regrouped band attacked Kabul University, a Doctor Without Borders maternity ward, the presidential palace and the airport.
NATO intel picked up by a UN report attributes a maximum of 2,200 jihadis to ISIS-K, split into small cells. Significantly, the absolute majority are non-Afghans: Iraqis, Saudis, Kuwaitis, Pakistanis, Uzbeks, Chechens and Uighurs.
The real danger is that ISIS-K works as a sort of magnet for all manners of disgruntled former Taliban or discombobulated regional warlords with nowhere to go.
The Perfect Soft Target
Kabul airport. (Peretz Partensky/Wikimedia Commons)
The civilian commotion these past few days around Kabul airport was the perfect soft target for trademark ISIS carnage.
Zabihullah Mujahid – the new Taliban minister of information in Kabul, who in that capacity talks to global media every day – is the one who actually warned NATO members about an imminent ISIS-K suicide bombing. Brussels diplomats confirmed it.
In parallel, it's no secret among intel circles in Eurasia that ISIS-K has become disproportionally more powerful since 2020 because of a transportation ratline from Idlib, in Syria, to eastern Afghanistan, informally known in spook talk as Daesh Airlines.
Moscow and Tehran, even at very high diplomatic levels, have squarely blamed the U.S.-U.K. axis as the key facilitators. Even the BBC reported in late 2017 on hundreds of ISIS jihadis given safe passage out of Raqqa, and out of Syria, right in front of the Americans.
The Kabul bombing took place after two very significant events.
The first one was Mujahid's claim during an American NBC News interview earlier this week that there is "no proof" Osama bin Laden was behind 9/11 – an argument that I had already hinted was coming in this podcast the previous week.
This means the Taliban have already started a campaign to disconnect themselves from the "terrorist” label associated with 9/11. The next step may involve arguing that the execution of 9/11 was set up in Hamburg, the operational details coordinated from two apartments in New Jersey.
Nothing to do with Afghans. And everything staying within the parameters of the official narrative – but that’s another immensely complicated story.
The Taliban will need to show that "terrorism" has been all about their lethal enemy, ISIS, and way beyond old school al-Qaeda, which they harbored up to 2001. But why should they be shy about making such claims? After all, the United States rehabilitated Jabhat Al-Nusra – or al-Qaeda in Syria – as "moderate rebels."
The origin of ISIS is incandescent material. ISIS was spawned in Iraq prison camps, its core made of Iraqis, their military skills derived from ex-officers in Saddam's army, [Editor's note: spawned out of Camp Bucca.] a wild bunch fired way back in 2003 by Paul Bremmer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
ISIS-K duly carries the work of ISIS from Southwest Asia to the crossroads of Central and South Asia in Afghanistan. There's no credible evidence that ISIS-K has ties with Pakistani military intel.
On the contrary: ISIS-K is loosely aligned with the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, Islamabad's mortal enemy. TTP's agenda has nothing to do with the moderate Mullah Baradar-led Afghan Taliban who participated in the Doha process.
Please go to Consortium News to read more.
________
How did ISIS show up in Afghanistan in the first place?
The Pentagon blames the Taliban for releasing these prisoners. The CIA was in direct talks with the Taliban leadership. Why would the Taliban release thousands of prisoners the US had rounded up over 20 years?
The reason ISIS were transported into Afghanistan and allowed to spore like wild seeds was to use them as likely leverage against Russian and China in the region and in Afghanistan. We are going to see a revived "war on terrorism" rise from the burnt ashes of Afghanistan. Western media always compliant to intelligence networks is all too complicit to refer to this as another "reign of terror."
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