Move FM Global News

LONDON, U.K. – Revealing shocking intelligence about terror plots being hatched by Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan, the U.K. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has urged action to prevent future attacks. 

In an interview with Sky News, Williamson revealed that after being targetted by British troops in Afghanistan, the Islamic State outfit in Afghanistan, which is known as ISIS-Khorasan or ISIS-K, is now plotting revenge. 

The country’s Defence Secretary, who issued the warning during a visit to British troops in Afghanistan, has said that fighters from the terror outfit, ISIS-Khorasan, are communicating with cells in the U.K. and western Europe with the potential to carry out attacks.

Further, Williamson called for immediate action in a bid to prevent “future Manchester-style attacks” in the country. 

Rebirth of terror

After being ousted from its self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State Militant Group trickled into various countries, forming different outfits or joining hands with the local terror groups that had pledged their allegiance to ISIS, which was merely a few years back, the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization. 

In Afghanistan, ISIS regrouped as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-Khorasan or ISIS-K) and the terror outfit considers both the Taliban and al Qaeda as its rivals. 

This local affiliate of Islamic State emerged in the country in 2014 and has carried out scores of deadly attacks since then, often targetting security forces and the country’s Shiite minority.

While Afghanistan government forces, along with the U.S. and NATO support have been fighting the well-established insurgency of Taliban for years now, the small but potent ISIS outfit in the country has proven to be a massive challenge for government forces.

Last month, the U.S. declared that it had delivered a crippling setback to the extremist group after U.S. forces in Afghanistan confirmed that they had taken out the terror mastermind, who led the group in the war-torn country. 

U.S. forces said that they had carried out a strike on the group’s hideouts in Nangarhar Province which killed the group’s leader Abu Saad Erhabi, and ten other ISIS militants.

Under the leadership of Abu Saad Erhabi – who also goes by the name Abu Sayeed Orakzai – the group led a spate of attacks in the country. 

Further, Orakazai was the fourth ISIS leader to be killed since the group’s inception.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military estimates that there are about 2,000 Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan.

Direct threat to the U.K.

Now, for the first time since 2014, the British government has acknowledged that this particular terror outfit poses a direct threat to the U.K.

After visiting British troops in Afghanistan’s northern city of Mazeer-i-Shareef, Williamson said that the U.K. must act to prevent an attack.

He said, “What we see is a real threat posed by these groups to the UK and we’ve got to be acting as we are to ensure that we do not see future Manchester-style attacks. We consistently see terrorist groups operating here in Afghanistan, [and] evidence of their links back not just to the United Kingdom but to the whole of continental Europe.”

The government’s acknowledgement comes at a time when 440 extra British troops are set to arrive in Afghanistan as part of an uplift requested by the U.K., in a bid to tackle the threat and bring stability in Afghanistan.

After the recent additions, overall, the U.K. has now committed around 1,100 personnel to Afghanistan – which is the third largest deployment and is only behind the U.K. and Germany.