Updated June 24, 2020
Al Qaeda and Islamic State Affiliates in Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s geography, complex ethnic composition, and
States or its allies. It is unclear what verification
recent history of conflict and instability have created space
mechanisms, if any, are in place to ensure Taliban
for numerous regional armed groups. This product outlines
compliance and to what extent the U.S. withdrawal
major terrorist groups affiliated and allied with Al Qaeda
(ongoing since March 2020) might be paused or reversed
(AQ) and the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS, ISIL, or
based on Taliban action with regard to Al Qaeda.
by the Arabic acronym Da’esh) and the convoluted, often
shifting relations between them and various other state and
Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent
non-state actors. These dynamics may inform assessments
In September 2014, Zawahiri announced the creation of a
of U.S. policy in Afghanistan in light of the February 2020
formal, separate Al Qaeda affiliate in South Asia, Al Qaeda
U.S.-Taliban agreement, which commits the Taliban to
in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). Because of the relative
undertake counterterrorism efforts and commits the United
geographical proximity of AQIS and the AQ core,
States to a full military withdrawal by April 2021. The
differentiating between the two is difficult, but some key
Taliban is not a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist
distinctions exist. Overall, AQIS represents an attempt by
Organization (FTO), but it relates to the groups below in
AQ to establish a more durable presence in the region by
varying ways that may have ramifications for that
enhancing links with local actors. Former AQIS leader
withdrawal, which U.S. officials describe as “conditions-
Asim Umar, who was being “sheltered” by Taliban forces
based.”
when he was killed in a joint U.S.-Afghan operation in
Afghanistan in September 2019, was an Indian national
Al Qaeda Core
with deep roots in Pakistan; AQ leaders are predominantly
The top echelon or “core” AQ leadership remains a primary
Arab. The relocation of some AQ leaders to Syria further
U.S. target in Afghanistan; CENTCOM Commander
incentivized Al Qaeda to create a locally sustainable
General Kenneth McKenzie, Jr., described eastern
affiliate in Afghanistan and the surrounding region.
Afghanistan as the “home of Al Qaeda” in June 2020. Also
known as Al Qaeda Central, the core is made up of AQ
While AQIS reportedly has attempted to solidify its
leader Ayman al Zawahiri and his deputies, an advisory
presence in Afghanistan by embedding fighters in the
council of about ten individuals, and members of various
Taliban, its operations have mostly been elsewhere: AQIS
AQ committees such as military operations and finance. In
has claimed a number of attacks in Pakistan and
September 2019, the White House announced that Hamza
Bangladesh, mostly against security targets and secular
bin Laden, son of AQ founder Osama bin Laden and a
activists, respectively. According to the November 2019
rising leader in the group, had been killed in a U.S.
DOD report, DIA assessed that AQIS would need “several
counterterrorism operation “in the Afghanistan/Pakistan
years without sustained counterterrorism pressure … to
region.”
develop the capability to attack outside South Asia.” AQIS
has “several hundred members” (per the State Department),
U.S. officials have maintained that U.S. raids and airstrikes
and was designated as an FTO in June 2016.
on AQ targets, including a large training camp discovered
in Kandahar province 2015, have reduced the AQ presence
in Afghanistan. It is unclear what threat AQ poses in light
of this counterterrorism pressure. A November 2019 report
from the Department of Defense (DOD) cited a Defense
Intelligence Agency (DIA) estimate that the 300 AQ
members in Afghanistan were “almost certainly focused on
survival.” In May 2020, the United Nations (U.N.) relayed
a Member State’s assessment that AQ “is quietly gaining
strength in Afghanistan while continuing to operate with the
Taliban under their protection.”
In May 2020, the U.N. also reported that senior Taliban
leaders “regularly consulted” with their AQ counterparts
(including Hamza bin Laden in June 2019) during
negotiations with the United States. Al Qaeda has
welcomed the U.S.-Taliban agreement, “celebrating it as a
victory for the Taliban’s cause and thus for global
militancy.” The U.S.-Taliban agreement commits the
Taliban to preventing any group, including Al Qaeda, from
using Afghan soil to threaten the security of the United
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Al Qaeda and Islamic State Affiliates in Afghanistan
Provinces with Reported Presence of Terror Groups
anti-Soviet jihad (1979-1989) who became a prominent
Taliban official and eventually a key leader in the post-
2001 insurgency. The Taliban confirmed his death from
natural causes in September 2018.
The group’s current leader is Jalaluddin’s son, Sirajuddin
Haqqani, who has also served as the deputy leader of the
Taliban since 2015. Sirajuddin’s appointment to lead the
network likely strengthened cooperation between the
Taliban and AQ, with which the Haqqanis have close ties
going back to the anti-Soviet jihad; Zawahiri reportedly met
with senior Haqqani leaders in February 2020. The May
2020 U.N. report suggests that the Haqqanis may also have
reached a “tactical accommodation” with ISKP.
The Haqqanis are blamed for some of the deadliest attacks
of the war in Afghanistan. In 2012, the year the Haqqani
Network was designated as an FTO, then-Chair of the
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Senator Dianne
Feinstein claimed the network was responsible for the death
Source: Graphic created by CRS using information from various
or injury of over 1,300 U.S. troops. The year before, then-
media and U.S. government reports, 2019-present.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen
described the Haqqanis in 2011 as a “veritable arm” of
Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP)
Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
The Islamic State announced the formation of its Afghan
Smaller Groups
affiliate in January 2015. ISKP (also known as ISIS-K) was
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The TTP, also known
once concentrated in eastern Afghanistan, particularly in
Nangarhar province, which borders the region of Pakistan
as the Pakistani Taliban, conducts most of its attacks (much
reduced in recent years) in Pakistan, and reportedly
formerly known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
maintains safe havens along the Afghanistan-Pakistan
(FATA). There, ISKP was mostly comprised of former
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants who fled
border where AQ has also operated. An umbrella
Pakistani army operations in the FATA after mid-2014.
organization for a number of Pakistan-based extremist
groups that came into conflict with the Pakistani state after
While it was once arguably one of the Islamic State’s most
2007, the TTP began to splinter following the 2013 death of
successful affiliates, ISKP was “nearly eradicated” from its
leader Hakimullah Mehsud. In 2014, some TTP members
pledged allegiance to IS and subsequently relocated to
main base in eastern Afghanistan in late 2019 by U.S. and
Afghan military offensives and, separately, the Taliban. A
eastern Afghanistan as part of ISKP. Mehsud’s successor
Mullah Fazlullah was killed by a U.S. drone strike in
previous ISKP contingent in northern Afghanistan was
Afghanistan’s Kunar province in June 2018. TTP leaders
similarly defeated in 2018. ISKP and Taliban forces have
sometimes fought over control of territory or because of
have pledged to strike within the United States, though it is
unclear whether TTP has such capacity: the last such
political or other differences, though some raise the
incident for which they claimed responsibility was a failed
prospect of Taliban hardliners defecting to ISKP if Taliban
leaders reach a political settlement with Kabul or accede to
2010 bombing attempt in New York City, carried out by a
Pakistani-American who reportedly received training from
a continued U.S. counterterrorism presence. A number of
TTP militants in the FATA.
ISKP leaders have been killed in U.S. strikes since 2016,
and Afghan forces arrested and captured two successive
ISKP leaders in spring 2020. U.S. officials caution that
ISKP remains a threat, and recent attacks attributed to the
“Afghanistan continues to be the conflict zone of
group (including a May 2020 assault on a maternity ward in
greatest concern for Member States outside the ISIL
Kabul) indicate the same operational resilience it has
core area and suffers by some measures the heaviest
demonstrated when pressured in the past.
toll from terrorism of any country in the world.”
In addition to attacks against government targets, ISKP has
United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions
claimed numerous large-scale bombings against civilians,
Monitoring Team Report S/2020/53, December 2019
particularly targeting Afghanistan’s Shia minority (about
15% of the population). Sectarian conflict has not been a
hallmark of the war in Afghanistan; ISKP attempts to
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Designated an
encourage it, following the example of the Islamic State
FTO in 2000, the IMU was once a prominent ally of AQ.
elsewhere, could further destabilize the country.
Formed by Uzbeks who fought with Islamist forces in
Tajikistan’s 1990s civil war, the IMU allied with the
The Haqqani Network
Taliban, and launched attacks into other Central Asian
The Haqqani Network is an official, semi-autonomous
states. After the U.S. invasion in 2001, the group’s focus
component of the Afghan Taliban and an ally of AQ. It was
was in Afghanistan and Pakistan. While some IMU fighters
founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a leading member of the
and leaders have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, the
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Al Qaeda and Islamic State Affiliates in Afghanistan
U.N. reported in May 2020 that IMU “has not demonstrated
AQ; it has launched airstrikes against EIM targets, most
any independent operational activity for some years and
recently in February 2018 against camps in northern
remains under the command and financial control of the
Afghanistan used by ETIM. The State Department has since
Taliban.” It operates in northern Afghanistan.
alleged there is “a lack of independent evidence that a
group by that name [ETIM] is still active,” but the UN
Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). ETIM
reports it has 500 fighters in northeast Afghanistan.
has advocated for the establishment of an independent
Islamic state for the Uyghurs, a Muslim-majority, Turkic-
speaking people in western China. The U.S. government
Clayton Thomas, Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs
designated ETIM as a terrorist organization under
IF10604
Executive Order 13224 in 2002, citing the group’s ties to
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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10604 · VERSION 10 · UPDATED