Global Terrorism Index 2025

Results
 
Islamic State and Affiliates: Islamic State Khorasan Province (Part 2)
Key Activities and Operations 
In its early stages, ISK focused on establishing a foothold in Afghanistan for future expansion. The group initially avoided conflict with the Taliban and other groups in the region, refrained from local taxation, and limited confrontations with regional military authorities. Recruitment remained limited, with several hundred active fighters and a larger number of sympathisers. Initially, ISK received funding from IS in Syria and Iraq. However, as IS in Syria and Iraq struggled to consolidate control in Middle East, this support declined, and ISK began to rely more on other funding.The affiliates of IS in Central Asia were divided between those linked directly to IS leadership in Iraq and Syria (Tajikistan) and those aligned with ISK in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

​ISK maintains a hierarchical leadership structure. The group has had seven emirs to date. Under the leadership of ISK’s first emir, Saeed Khan, just one attack resulting in 83 deaths was attributed to the group. Abu Sayed took over as leader in April 2017, but his tenure was short-lived after he was killed in a US drone strike in July 2017. ISK became more active under the leadership of Saad Orakzai, a former TTP commander, who was killed in an airstrike in Afghanistan in 2018. The next ISK emir, al-Khorasani, was appointed by the local ISK leadership council but was demoted by IS in Iraq and Syria due to poor performance. Deaths from ISK attacks declined during his leadership from 814 in 2018 to 225 in 2019. 
 
Since 2020, ISK has been led by Shahab al-Muhajir, who was allegedly a commander in the Haqqani network, an Islamist insurgent group in Afghanistan.Since al-Muhajir took power, ISK has organised several high-profile attacks, including the 2021 Kabul airport attack. Due to the ongoing conflict with the Taliban, over 500 deaths were attributed to ISK in both 2021 and 2022. The lethality of the group’s activities declined in 2023, but deaths rose again in 2024, primarily due to international attacks, such as at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow. 
 
US forces in Afghanistan began targeting ISK fighters at the end of 2015. In 2016, a joint US and Afghan counterterrorism operation killed ISK’s first leader Hafiz Sayyid Khan and several fighters, further diminishing the group’s territory. Taliban attacks also contributed to this decline. In 2017, the US dropped a powerful bomb on ISK positions in Nangarhar province. By mid-2017, the group’s territorial control was limited to just three districts in Nangarhar province, with ISK deaths later peaking in 2018.
 
Global Terrorism Index 2025. Institute for Economics & Peace. Sydney, Australia