EDITORIAL: The IS-K continues to represent a major security challenge to the Afghan Taliban, killing several senior leaders, including provincial governors, commanders, and clerics as well as members of Shia community and other civilians in gun and bombing attacks. On Wednesday, a senior Taliban figure Khalilur Rehman Haqqani lost his life in a suicide bombing. At least six other people were also killed. Although no group immediately claimed responsibility there was hardly any doubt as to who may have done it.
Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the IS-K carried out “a cowardly attack”, and saluted “a great fighter” who fell as a martyr. Although the slain leader held a relatively minor portfolio, of an acting minister for refugees, he belonged to a highly influential family. He was a brother of Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the powerful Haqqani Network – at the forefront of the fight against US-led forces in Afghanistan – and an uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, interior minister in the interim Afghan government.
His assassination is a reminder that despite the Kabul government’s claims of having eliminated the IS-K this terrorist outfit remains a clear and present threat to Afghanistan, this wider region and beyond. Notably, aside from forging alliances with various jihadist groups active in that country, majority of its fighters are defectors from the Pakistan-centric terrorist outfit, the self-styled Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as well as Afghan Taliban who had differences with their own leaderships. The IS-K has been involved in a number of terror attacks inside Pakistan, including the March 2022 attack at a Shia mosque in Peshawar’s Kissa Khwani Bazaar which left at least 63 people dead and 196 others injured. And the TTP regularly launches cross-border attacks into Pakistan despite a commitment the Afghan Taliban gave the international community not to allow use of their soil for attacks against other countries. Afghan authorities are also said to be engaged in an internal struggle for influence. The Haqqanis are pro-reform and favour pragmatic domestic and foreign policies, but get batted down by the hard-line proclamations of supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, who is also insistent on providing safe haven to terrorist groups, such as the TTP and al-Qaeda.
Pakistan’s ties with the Haqqani faction go back several decades. In a condolence message posted on his X handle Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar wrote “we are deeply shocked at the death of Acting Afghan Minister Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani and loss of [other] precious lives as a result of a terrorist attack ... we offer our heartfelt condolences.” His side, he added, was in touch with the interim Afghan government to ascertain further details. The tragic loss, once again, underscores the shared interest the two countries have in combating terrorism perpetrated by the IS-K and others of its ilk, like the TTP.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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