Daesh attempts to enter Pakistan

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai has recently claimed that the US has links with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or Daesh. He further said that ISIS was being supplied weapons by the United States. In an interview with Russia Today in London, published on October 4, Karzai said he has more than suspicions that the US bases in Afghanistan were being used to aid Daesh. “I get daily reports by the Afghan people that unmarked military helicopters supply Daesh in many parts of Afghanistan,” he claimed. Karzai added that from 9/11 until today, there was more extremism in Afghanistan, despite spending billions of dollars by the US. 

Earlier, this year during an interview, Karzai had stated that the ISIS was a tool of the United States and that he did not differentiate between the ISIS and America. He told the VOA’s Afghan service: “After it (the US) dropped the bomb on Afghanistan, it did not eliminate Daesh. I consider Daesh their tool. I do not differentiate at all between Daesh and America.”

On the other hand, Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Lt-Gen (retd) Naseer Janjua agreed with former Afghan president Hamid Karzai that the US was supporting the organisation, Daesh, in Afghanistan. “Yes, I do agree with Hamid Karzai on his Daesh statement. I think he is right,” Janjua told a newspaper.

There is no official confirmation of the presence of ISIS in Pakistan; however the top world intelligence agencies are supporting the ISIS in Afghanistan which has its impact on Pakistan too. The ingress into Balochistan in order to sabotage CPEC would be made through Daesh, warn experts in Islamabad.

These experts point out that the trend of ISIS targeting young people is a global phenomenon that is likely to persist. According to a report, about 5,000 Westerners have traveled to Iraq and Syria (many via Turkey) to join the ISIS. Of these, more than 500 have come from the US, at least 1,000 from the UK and more than 3,500 from France and the rest of Europe, according to estimates from authorities in these countries.

The organization has centered itself in Afghanistan’s northern region, bordering with Pakistan. The Nangarhar province is considered to be their stronghold, with presence in Achin, Nazian, Bati Kot, Kot and Mohmand Valley. It was reported that by September 2015, their numbers in Nangarhar had climbed to more than 1,000. Daesh’s presence in Afghanistan which has instilled fear and notoriety was confirmed in March 2015 when Abdul Salam Rahimi, chief of staff to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, said: "Daesh is here, they do exist." In June 2015, a Daesh website claimed Afghanistan as part of the Khorasan province.

The ISIS is using a different strategy i.e. targeting the educated youth of Pakistan through the internet. Experts in internal security say that Pakistan has successfully flushed out terrorism from its soil and there is no footprint of ISIS physically. Pakistan has taken serious steps to strengthen security and management of the Pak-Afghan border. 

What has the ISIS actually done on the ground except destroying Iraq, Libya and Syria and damaging the unity of the Muslim world? Whom are they serving and for what purpose? Has the ISIS ever launched an attack against Israel, their real masters? The answer is No.