Updated August 12, 2021
Terrorist Groups in Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s geography, complex ethnic composition, and
April 2021 report, United Nations (U.N.) sanctions
history of conflict and instability have created space for
monitors assessed that AQ and the Taliban “remain closely
numerous armed Islamist groups. This product outlines
aligned and show no indication of breaking ties.” The
major terrorist groups affiliated and allied with Al Qaeda
Taliban claim that there are foreign fighters in areas of
(AQ) and the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS, ISIL, or
Afghanistan under their control, but do not appear to have
by the Arabic acronym Da’esh) and the convoluted, often
taken any tangible steps that might constitute a break in ties
shifting relations between them and various other state and
with Al Qaeda. It is unclear how, if at all, Taliban violations
non-state actors, most notably the Taliban. These dynamics
of the February 2020 accord might affect U.S. policy.
may inform assessments of U.S. policy in Afghanistan in
light of the February 2020 U.S.-Taliban agreement, which
Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent
commits the Taliban to undertake counterterrorism efforts
In September 2014, Zawahiri announced the creation of a
in return for the full withdrawal of U.S. and international
formal, separate Al Qaeda affiliate in South Asia, Al Qaeda
military forces, scheduled to be completed in August 2021.
in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS, designated as an FTO in
The Taliban are not a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist
2016). Because of the relative geographical proximity of
Organization (FTO), but it interacts with the groups below
AQIS and the AQ core, differentiating between the two is
in varying ways that may have ramifications for U.S.
difficult, but some key distinctions exist. Essentially, AQIS
interests. President Joseph Biden and other U.S. officials
represents an attempt by AQ to establish a more durable
have stated that the United States will maintain “over-the-
presence in the region by enhancing links with local actors,
horizon” capabilities to address terrorist threats after the
prompted in part by the relocation of some AQ leaders to
U.S. military withdrawal. The Taliban have made
Syria. Former AQIS leader Asim Umar, who was being
significant territorial gains since May 2021; it is unclear
“sheltered” by Taliban forces when he was killed in a joint
how these gains might empower, undermine, or otherwise
U.S.-Afghan operation in Afghanistan in September 2019,
impact the terrorist groups below or Taliban behavior
was an Indian national with deep roots in Pakistan; AQ core
toward them.
leaders are predominantly Arab.
Al Qaeda Core
While AQIS reportedly solidified its presence in
The top echelon or “core” AQ leadership
Afghanistan by embedding fighters in the Taliban, its
has been a
operations have mostly been elsewhere: AQIS has claimed
primary U.S. target in Afghanistan since 2001. Also known
a number of attacks in Pakistan and Bangladesh, mostly
as Al Qaeda Central, the core is made up of AQ leader
against security targets and secular activists, respectively.
Ayman al Zawahiri (who reportedly is ailing) and his
According to the April 2021 DOD report, AQIS threatens
deputies, an advisory council of about ten individuals, and
U.S. forces in Afghanistan, a reflection of the group’s
members of various AQ committees such as military
cooperation with the Taliban, but likely does not have the
operations and finance. In September 2019, the White
means to conduct attacks outside the region.
House announced that Hamza bin Laden, son of AQ
founder Osama bin Laden and a rising leader in the group,
Provinces with Reported Presence of Terror Groups
had been killed in a U.S. counterterrorism operation “in the
Afghanistan/Pakistan region.”
U.S. officials have argued that U.S. raids and airstrikes on
AQ targets, including a large training camp discovered in
Kandahar province in 2015, have reduced the AQ presence
in Afghanistan. An April 2021 report from the Department
of Defense (DOD) estimated that AQ core leaders in
Afghanistan “pose a limited threat” because they “focus
primarily on survival.”
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 States or
its allies. Taliban-AQ links date back to the 1990s, when
the Taliban were in power and provided a crucial safe
haven to Al Qaeda as it planned the September 11, 2001,
and other terrorist attacks. Those ties have been cemented
by their shared battle against international forces in
Afghanistan as well as through intermarriage and other
personal bonds between members of the two groups. In an
Source: Graphic created by CRS.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Terrorist Groups in Afghanistan
Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP)
objectives” but also fights alongside the Afghan Taliban
The Islamic State announced the formation of its Afghan
against the Afghan government inside Afghanistan (where
affiliate in January 2015. ISKP (also known as ISIS-K) was
the TTP has a significant presence). An umbrella
once concentrated in eastern Afghanistan, particularly in
organization for a number of Pakistan-based extremist
Nangarhar province, which borders the region of Pakistan,
groups that came into conflict with the Pakistani state after
formerly known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
2007, the TTP began to splinter following the 2013 death of
(FATA). There, ISKP was mostly comprised of former
leader Hakimullah Mehsud. In 2014, some TTP members
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants who fled
pledged allegiance to IS and subsequently relocated to
Pakistani army operations in the FATA after mid-2014.
eastern Afghanistan in response to Pakistani army
operations that mostly drove the group from its safe havens
While it was arguably once one of the Islamic State’s most
successful affiliates, ISKP was “nearly eradicated” from its
in the former FATA. Continued military pressure
(Mehsud’s successor was killed by a U.S. drone strike in
main base in eastern Afghanistan in late 2019 by U.S. and
Afghanistan’s Kunar province in 2018) greatly reduced the
Afghan military offensives and, separately, the Taliban. An
group’s activity in subsequent years. However,
ISKP contingent in northern Afghanistan was similarly
reunification between TTP and some former splinter groups
defeated in 2018. These territorial losses have forced the
group to “decentralize” according to U.N. sanctions
(possibly facilitated by AQ) since 2020 has swelled the
group’s ranks. That, and the possible boost TTP might
monitors, who assess the group has around 2,000 fighters
receive from Taliban gains in Afghanistan, have raised the
primarily in the east but also in northern Afghanistan. A
prospect of a TTP resurgence.
number of ISKP leaders have been killed in U.S. strikes
since 2016, and Afghan forces arrested and captured two
successive ISKP leaders in spring 2020. Still, U.S. officials
“The security situation in Afghanistan remains as tense
caution that ISKP remains a threat, and recent attacks
and challenging as at any time in recent history … The
attributed to the group indicate the same operational
country remains host to a number of armed groups
resilience it has demonstrated when pressured in the past. In
comprising foreign terrorist fighters, which are
addition to attacks against government targets, ISKP has
assessed to be allied variously with the Taliban, Al-
claimed numerous large-scale bombings against civilians,
Qaida and the Islamic State.”
mainly targeting Afghanistan’s Shia minority, including the
United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions
May 2021 bombing of a girls’ school in Kabul.
Monitoring Team Report S/2021/486, April 2021
ISKP and Taliban forces have sometimes fought over
control of territory or because of political or other
differences, though some raise the prospect of Taliban
hardliners defecting to ISKP if Taliban leaders reach a
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Designated an
political settlement with Kabul. A Taliban military victory,
FTO in 2000, the IMU was once a prominent ally of AQ.
on the other hand, might have a negative impact on ISKP.
Formed by Uzbeks who fought with Islamist forces in
The Haqqani Network
Tajikistan’s 1990s civil war, the IMU allied with the
Taliban and launched attacks into other Central Asian
The Haqqani Network is an official, semi-autonomous
states. After U.S. operations began in 2001, the group’s
component of the Afghan Taliban and an ally of AQ. It was
focus was in Afghanistan and Pakistan. U.N. sanctions
founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a leading member of the
monitors report IMU is under the control of the Taliban,
anti-Soviet jihad (1979-1989) who became a prominent
which is “less accommodating than it used to be” given
Taliban official and eventually a key leader in the post-
previous IMU moves to align with ISKP. IMU operates in
2001 insurgency. The Taliban confirmed his death from
northern Afghanistan.
natural causes in September 2018.
The group’s current leader is Jalaluddin’s son
Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). ETIM
, Sirajuddin
(also known as the Turkistan Islamic Party) seeks to
Haqqani, who has also served as the deputy leader of the
Taliban since 2015. Sirajuddin’s appointment to le
establish an independent Islamic state for the Uyghurs, a
ad the
Muslim-majority, Turkic-speaking people in western China.
network likely strengthened cooperation between the
In 2002, the U.S. government designated ETIM as an FTO,
Taliban and AQ, with which the Haqqanis have close ties
citing the group’s ties to AQ; in late 2020, it removed
going back to the anti-Soviet jihad; U.N. monitors describe
the Haqqani Network as the “primary liaison” between the
ETIM from another list, the Terrorist Exclusion List (to
which the group had been added in 2004), stating that “for
Taliban and AQ. The April 2021 U.N. report indicates
more than a decade, there has been no credible evidence
disagreement among Member States about whether the
that ETIM continues to exist.”
Haqqani Network may collaborate tactically with ISKP.
U.N. sanctions monitors
reported in June 2021 that ETIM has hundreds of fighters in
The Haqqani Network is blamed for some of the deadliest
northeast Afghanistan, as well as a larger presence in Idlib,
attacks of the war in Afghanistan, including the death or
Syria, and moves fighters between the two areas. ETIM in
injury of hundreds of U.S. troops, and has historically been
Afghanistan is reportedly focused on China; the Syrian
described as close to Pakistan’s intelligence agency.
contingent has “a more global outlook.”
Smaller Groups
Clayton Thomas, Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The TTP, also known
as the Pakistani Taliban, has “distinctive anti-Pakistan
IF10604
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Terrorist Groups 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 12 · UPDATED