Global Terrorism Index 2025

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Islamic State and Affiliates: Islamic State Khorasan Province
Islamic State - Khorasan Province (ISK), also known as ISKP, is a regional affiliate of IS operating primarily in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and parts of Central Asia. Formed in 2015, ISK pledged allegiance to IS's central leadership and aims to establish an Islamic caliphate in the historical region of Khorasan, which includes parts of modern-day Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia. 
 
ISK has become one of the most active jihadist groups internationally in recent years. Since its formation, it has carried out numerous attacks beyond its bases in Afghanistan. In 2024, the group was responsible for two of the year’s deadliest terrorist incidents: the January attack in Kerman, Iran, which killed at least 95 people, and the March attack in Moscow, Russia, which resulted in at least 144 deaths.
 
Since its inception, ISK has been linked to 634 attacks and 3,212 deaths. Recent activity has targeted the Russia and Eurasia region, with incidents rising from 11 in 2023 to 18 in 2024. Although the number of attacks remains lower than in sub- Saharan Africa, deaths attributed to the group increased from four to 199 during the same period. 
 
The threat of jihadism in Afghanistan and surrounding countries has been limited until recently. Since the various political and military upheavals that have impacted the region in the years since 2021, radical jihadism had persisted as a security concern until then but had remained a marginal issue, affecting only a small segment of the socio-political landscape.
 
The departure of Bashar al-Assad from Syria in December 2024, coupled with the change of power in Afghanistan in 2021, has reshaped the regional security landscape. At the same time, a surge in international attacks and foiled plots linked to ISK has underscored the group’s growing transnational threat. This subsection examines ISK’s expanding influence and reassesses the broader jihadist threat both in the region and globally. 
 
From Inception to Formative Years (2015-2021) 
Foundation
Jihadism in the Khorasan region has multiple sources and influences. The ideology gained prominence after the US-led operation that overthrew the Taliban in 2001, which led to increased jihadist activity in Afghanistan. The draw-down of Western combat forces in 2014 did not end the Afghan jihad but instead fuelled ongoing instability driven by internal conflicts and factional disputes.
 
At the end of 2014, the first IS representatives arrived in Pakistan, distributing leaflets in Pashto and Dari. These leaflets called on local Muslims to pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi and join IS's global jihad.73 Later that year, six senior members of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also pledged allegiance to al-Baghdadi.
 
By January 26, 2015, the formation of "Wilayat Khorasan" (Khorasan Province) was officially announced by IS spokesperson Abu Muhammed al-Adnani. This followed six months of negotiations between IS leadership in Syria and Iraq and militant factions in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Among these groups were former TTP members, led by Hafiz Saeed Orakzai, who became ISK’s first emir. At the time, IS had already captured the Iraqi city of Mosul and the Syrian city of Raqqa, declared the establishment of a global caliphate, and received pledges of allegiance from other radical jihadist groups in various countries, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria. 
 
ISK was initially thought to have few connections with IS. However, by 2016, it was confirmed that the group had financial, strategic, and communication links with IS leadership in Iraq and Syria. ISK initially consisted of several thousand individuals opposing the government. The group was mainly composed of Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. According to the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), ISK's core also included members of Pakistani Islamist groups who had fled military operations in northern Pakistan between 2010 and 2011. These individuals referred to themselves as ‘muhajerin’, meaning refugees or migrants. By the end of 2015, AAN reported that around 1,000 Pakistani migrants were members of ISK in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province.
 
One of ISK's early strategic regional alliances was with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a terrorist group formed in 1998, primarily composed of Uzbeks and originally based in the mountains of eastern Tajikistan. Historically, the IMU has allied with both the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The group’s goal has been to overthrow the Uzbek government and establish an Islamic state in Uzbekistan, governed by the application of Sharia law. In August 2015, IMU leader Usman Ghazi pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a video, thereby establishing a close relationship with ISK. 
 
ISK shares core ideological elements with IS, including the goal of establishing a global caliphate governed by a strict interpretation of Islamic law. One of the components of their ideology is takfirism, the practice of declaring other Muslims who reject sharia law as infidels or kafirs, which they use to justify violence against Muslims.
 
Global Terrorism Index 2025. Institute for Economics & Peace. Sydney, Australia