News Analysis: Afghan gov't should consider IS infiltrating reports seriously

A couple of months ago, Abu Bakar Al- Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the so-called Islamic State (IS) whose fighters now control wide swathes of Iraq and Syria, announced their presence in Khurasan, a territory covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of Iran, India, and some central Asian states.

Although Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi has ruled out the presence of IS fighters in the country, saying that reports about IS militants infiltrating Afghanistan are without factual basis and could be mere speculations, some local Afghan officials have reported the presence in some parts of the country of militants wearing black masks and carrying black flags similar to those carried by IS fighters in Iraq and Syria after the announcement was carried by the media.

Local media reports recently quoted Faqir Mohammad Jauzjani, police chief of the northern Jawzjan province, as having said that some 600 Taliban militants have rebranded themselves into IS militants by using a black flag instead of the white Taliban flag. These militants have also been covering their faces with black mask and have increased terrorist attacks in some districts of the province.

Earlier, the chairman of Logar Provincial Council, Hasibullah Stanikzai, also confirmed that the insurgents of the Islamic State, known here as Daesh, are active in parts of the province, including Kharkh and Khirwar districts.

Mohammad Omar Safi, governor of the northern Kunduz province, just couple of days ago also reported the presence of an estimated 70 Islamic State fighters in Dasht-e-Archi and Chardara districts. He said these IS fighters are expected to complicate the already complicated security situation in the country.

Some Afghan political watchers have given credence to the reports since the basic philosophy of the Taliban and IS -- fundamentalist interpretation of the Koran -- are almost identical although that of the latter is more gruesome.

"In my opinion, IS would pose serious security threats and would prove challenging in the spring and summer when the weather gets warmer," a former diplomat and political analyst, Ahmad Sayedi, told the local media here recently.

"IS or Daesh sooner or later would emerge in Afghanistan," a former Afghan deputy to Interior Ministry, Mirza Mohammad Yarmand, said.

Another Afghan analyst, Jawed Kohistani, also expressed concern over IS emergence in his country, calling on the central government to consider the problem seriously and take the necessary security measures in order to prevent the murderous Islamic State from taking a foothold in the country.

"IS, according to local security officials, are present in Khak- e-Safid district of Farah province, in Zarghon Shahr district of Logar province and Daesh fighters have killed Taliban commander in Charkh district," the well-respected analyst Kohistani said. He called on the government to verify the reports.

Meanwhile, government security forces had killed Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim, the alleged commander of the extremist group in the southern Helmand province last Monday. Khadim was reportedly responsible for recruiting fighters for IS in Afghanistan.

The IS armed militants had also burned a Taliban commander in Shindand district of the western Herat province a week ago like what they did to the captured Jordanian pilot in Syria. Endi