Updated February 12, 2019
Al Qaeda and Islamic State Affiliates in Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s geography, complex ethnic makeup, and
Afghanistan/Pakistan to Syria has given Al Qaeda Central
recent history of unstable and decentralized government
further incentive to create a locally sustainable affiliate.
have made it a hotspot for regional armed groups. This
product outlines major terrorist groups affiliated and allied
The group has reportedly gained traction in places like
with Al Qaeda (AQ) and the Islamic State (IS, also known
Karachi, far beyond AQ’s mountainous strongholds, and it
as ISIS, ISIL, or by the Arabic acronym Da’esh) and the
is attempting to solidify its presence in Afghanistan by
complex, often shifting relations between them and various
embedding fighters in the Taliban. According to a July
other state and non-state actors. While Al Qaeda and the
2018 U.N. report, AQIS, made up of “several hundred
Taliban have fought alongside each other in Afghanistan,
people,” is “relatively isolated” but “continues to seek
the Taliban is not an affiliate of Al Qaeda and has not been
security gaps for opportunistic attacks.” AQIS has claimed
assessed as a threat to the U.S. homeland, and thus is
a number of such attacks in Pakistan and Bangladesh
considered only peripherally here. This product provides
(mostly against security targets and secular activists,
context for lawmakers as they assess the state of the conflict
respectively). Additionally, a large and complex training
in Afghanistan and the U.S. position in the region in light of
camp discovered in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province in
ongoing U.S.-Taliban negotiations focused largely on
2015 was attributed to AQIS. The State Department
counterterrorism concerns.
designated AQIS a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO),
and Asim Umar as a specially designated global terrorist, in
Al Qaeda Core
June 2016.
The top echelon or “core” of AQ leadership remains a
primary military target of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.
Also known as Al Qaeda Central, the core is made up of
“The conflict in Afghanistan has occurred at great cost
AQ leader Ayman al Zawahiri and his deputies, an advisory
in terms of both lives and resources. However, in
council of about ten individuals, and members of various
considering the prospect of conflict termination, we
AQ committees such as military operations and finance.
must also weigh the cost of getting it wrong. ISIS, Al
AQ leaders (including Hamza bin Laden, son of AQ
Qaeda and an estimated 18 other terrorist groups are
founder Osama bin Laden, who has recently taken a more
still present in the region, and some within the
prominent role in AQ messaging) are currently thought to
intelligence community assess that external plotting
be based in the mountainous, tribal-dominated areas of both
would surge upon our withdrawal.”
Afghanistan and Pakistan, often moving between the two.
General Joseph Votel, February 6, 2019
For years after 2001, U.S. officials maintained that AQ had
only a minimal presence in Afghanistan. However, some
analysts argued that the large number of U.S.-led coalition
raids against AQ and affiliated groups that were announced
Islamic State- Khorasan Province (ISKP)
over the past decade indicated a numerically larger and
The Islamic State officially announced the formation of its
geographically broader AQ presence. A November 2018
Afghan affiliate in January 2015. ISKP (also known as
Department of Defense (DOD) report estimated that there
ISIS-K) has maintained a presence in the country’s east,
are 200 AQ members in Afghanistan. In January 2019, the
particularly in Nangarhar province, which borders the
UN reported that AQ “continues to see Afghanistan as a
region of Pakistan formerly known as the Federally
safe haven for its leadership, based on its long-standing,
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). There, ISKP is
strong ties with the Taliban,” a relationship the UN
reportedly made up mostly of former Tehrik-e Taliban
describes, as it has for years, as an “alliance.”
Pakistan (TTP) militants who fled Pakistani army
Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent
operations in the FATA in late 2014. In the spring of 2015,
ISKP assassinated the top Taliban leader in Nangarhar and
In September 2014, Zawahiri announced the creation of a
established control over part of it. ISKP has condemned the
formal, separate Al Qaeda affiliate in South Asia, Al Qaeda
Taliban as “apostate,” accusing it of having narrow tribal,
in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). Because of the close
ethnic, and/or national interests.
geographical proximity of AQIS and the AQ core,
differentiating between the two is difficult, but some key
ISKP has demonstrated operational abilities in the north as
distinctions exist. Overall, AQIS represents an attempt by
well. A March 2018 video released by ISKP demonstrated
AQ to establish a more durable presence in the region by
their hold over several districts in the largely Turkic-
enhancing links with local actors. AQIS leader Asim Umar
populated province of Jowzjan, highlighting ISKP’s
is an Indian national with deep roots in Pakistan; AQ
potential reach in areas dominated by ethnic groups not
leaders are predominantly Arab (Zawahiri is Egyptian;
generally seen as receptive to Pashtun-based militant
Qahtani was Qatari). The relocation of some leaders from
organizations. The senior ISKP leader in northern
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Al Qaeda and Islamic State Affiliates in Afghanistan
Afghanistan (a former IMU and Taliban commander) was
conflict with the Pakistani state after 2007, the TTP began
killed in a U.S. airstrike in April 2018. In announcing the
to splinter following the 2013 death of leader Hakimullah
strike, NATO described Jowzjan as “the main conduit for
Mehsud. In 2014, a large number of TTP members pledged
external support and foreign fighters from Central Asian
allegiance to IS; they were disrupted by Pakistani army
states into Afghanistan.” A series of defeats at the hands of
operations and relocated to eastern Afghanistan as part of
Taliban fighters in August 2018 reduced ISKP presence in
ISKP. Mehsud’s successor Mullah Fazlullah was killed by a
the area, though ISKP is still seen as a threat in this region.
U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan’s Kunar province in June
2018. TTP leaders pledged to strike within the United
In addition to complex attacks against government targets,
States, though the last incident for which they claimed
ISKP has claimed numerous large scale bombings against
civilians, particularly targeting members of Afghanistan’s
responsibility was a 2010 bombing attempt in New York
Shia minority (who make up around 15% of the country’s
City, carried out by a Pakistani-American who reportedly
received training from TTP militants in the FATA.
population). Sectarian conflict has not been a hallmark of
the war in Afghanistan, but any ISKP attempts to encourage
Smaller Groups
it, following the example of the Islamic State elsewhere,
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Designated an
could further destabilize the country.
FTO in 2000, the IMU was once a prominent ally of AQ.
In January 2016, the Obama Administration designated
Formed by Uzbeks who fought alongside Islamist forces in
ISKP an FTO and gave U.S. forces legal authority
Tajikistan’s civil war (1992-1997), the IMU allied with the
(previously limited to AQ) to target ISKP. ISKP leader
Taliban, and launched attacks into other Central Asian
Hafiz Saeed Khan, a former TTP member, was killed in a
states. Since the U.S. invasion in 2001, the group’s focus
U.S. strike in July 2016; 3 successors have since been
has been in Afghanistan and Pakistan. IMU leader Usman
killed. 2017 saw intense fighting against ISKP; at least half
Ghazi pledged allegiance to IS in July 2015, dividing the
of U.S. combat casualties in Afghanistan in 2017 may have
group. Amid concerns about returning IS fighters, the
occurred in anti-ISKP operations, some by friendly fire.
alignment of IMU (and the 500 fighters reportedly under its
ISKP strength is estimated at 3,000-4,000 fighters.
command) with ISKP could further increase IS influence in
a region long targeted by extremist groups.
The Haqqani Network
East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). ETIM, also
The Haqqani Network, a U.S.-designated FTO since
known as the Turkistan Islamic Party, advocates the
September 2012, is an official, semi-autonomous
establishment of an independent Islamic state for the
component of the Afghan Taliban and an ally of AQ. It is
Uyghurs, a Muslim-majority, Turkic-speaking people who
named after Jalaluddin Haqqani, a leading member of the
live in western China. The U.S. government designated
anti-Soviet jihad (1979-1989) who became a prominent
ETIM as a terrorist organization in 2002, citing the group’s
Taliban official and eventually a key leader in the post-
ties to AQ. In February 2018, the U.S. launched airstrikes in
2001 insurgency. The Taliban confirmed his death in
northern Afghanistan against camps used by ETIM, which
September 2018. The group’s current leader is Jalaluddin’s
commands around 400 fighters. U.S. drone strikes have also
son Sirajuddin, who has also served as the deputy leader of
the Taliban since 2015. Sirajuddin’s appointment to lead
targeted ETIM leaders in Pakistan several times since 2010.
the network likely strengthened cooperation between the
Provinces with Reported Presence of Terror Groups
Taliban and AQ, with whom the Haqqanis have close ties
going back to the anti-Soviet jihad. A December 2015 DOD
report to Congress called the Haqqani Network “the most
critical enabler of al Qaeda” in Afghanistan, though the
current relationship is less clear.
The Haqqanis are blamed for some of the deadliest attacks
of the war in Afghanistan, including the May 2017 bombing
in Kabul’s diplomatic district that left over 150 dead. In
2012, then-Chairman of the Intelligence Committee Senator
Dianne Feinstein claimed the network was responsible for
the death or injury of over 1,300 U.S. troops. Additionally,
the Haqqanis are currently believed to hold at least one
American, a university professor kidnapped in Kabul in
2016, in captivity. In 2012, the group kidnapped an
American backpacker and her Canadian husband; that
couple, and the three children to whom she gave birth while
in captivity, were freed by a Pakistani army operation in
October 2017.
Source: Graphic created by CRS using information from various
Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
media and U.S. government reports, 2018-present.
The TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, was
Clayton Thomas, Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs
described by the State Department in 2010, the year they
were designated an FTO, as having a “symbiotic
IF10604
relationship” with AQ. An umbrella organization for a
number of Pakistan-based extremist groups that came into
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Al Qaeda and Islamic State Affiliates in Afghanistan
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to
congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.
Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has
been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the
United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be
reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include
copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you
wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.
https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10604 · VERSION 7 · UPDATED