Pakistan-based ISIS emerges as major threat to Taliban & Afghan stability

New Delhi: The ISIS is emerging as a major threat to the Taliban regime and Afghanistan's stability, with Kabul accusing Pakistan's military and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of backing the militant group.

Amid concerns over the group's expanding footprint in the region, the Taliban this week carried out cross-border strikes on what it said were ISIS positions in Saranan in Pakistan's Balochistan province and additional locations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Taliban has accused Pakistan of sheltering ISIS to facilitate attacks inside Afghanistan, an allegation Islamabad denies. The strikes were reportedly carried out using drones.

Afghanistan's defence ministry said the operation targeted joint positions used by ISIS and what it described as "groups of evil and corruption". It claimed that the strikes were conducted with precision, killing several ISIS fighters, inflicting significant material damage and avoiding civilian casualties. The operation followed a series of Pakistani airstrikes along the Afghanistan border on June 28. Ties between Kabul and Islamabad remain strained, with this marking the second flare-up this year despite Chinese efforts to mediate.


The rise of ISIS and its radical ideology in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region has wider security implications for India, the Central Asian republics and Russia.

Eurasian countries are concerned about the potential spillover of ISIS activities and possible links with local militant groups, according to experts familiar with terrorism in the region.

Cross-border security threats from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region are expected to feature prominently at next week's meeting of the India-Russia Joint Working Group on Terrorism. Pakistan is also said to be concerned about Afghanistan's growing military capability following Kabul's recent defence pact with Moscow.

In May, Russia and the Taliban signed a military-technical cooperation agreement covering arms exchanges, licensing, military technologies and joint development projects. It was the Taliban government's first defence agreement with any country and came as Kabul sought military support against what it describes as Pakistani aggression.