Hate-Maddened Killers and Thugs:
A report from the U.N. tracks the growth of a group involved in international terrorism since the fall of Kabul in August 2021. IS-KP, an Islamic State group. according to David Loyn in The Spectator, is becoming a crucible of international terrorism. Bolstering that fear is IS-KP’s latest mission: carrying out the Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow (Russia).
Four gunmen, all citizens of Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan to the north. walked casually through the throng as they fired into the crowd. The carnage left 130 dead. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the north.
According to Lieutenant General Sami Sadat, former head of Afghan special forces:
“The Taliban only deal with IS-KP when they see an imminent threat. They have no capacity to defeat them.”
IS-KP has carried out high-profile attacks against the Pakistani and Russian diplomatic missions in Kabul and suicide bomb attacks against civilians, particularly targeted at the Hazara minority, who are from the Shia faith.
After their defeat in Syria and Iraq, Afghanistan is now Islamic State’s main base, and hundreds of Central Asian fighters have returned to regroup and train there, warns Mr. Loyn.
Bearing Black Flags
According to Intelligence sources, Tajiks can easily pass in the northeast of Afghanistan as locals, since the people of the region are Afghan Tajiks
Islamic State’s regional affiliate, Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-KP), was founded by disaffected Taliban commanders in the mountainous region separating Afghanistan from Pakistan in 2015.
“Khorasan” is an old name for a region, which took in most of modern Afghanistan as well as eastern Iran, and it has particular resonance because of an Islamic prophecy that when the Mahdi, the messiah, returns to herald the end of the world, he will come bearing black flags in the land of Khorasan. It is no coincidence that IS-KP fly black flags.
In another UN report, al-Qaeda is said to have a “symbiotic” relationship with the Taliban. Continues Mr. Loyn:
An unpublished analysis by UK-based security firm, reported in Foreign Policy says that al-Qaeda are running eleven gold mines in the north of Afghanistan, splitting the proceeds between the two factions of the Taliban: the leadership in Kandahar, and the Haqqani network in Kabul. Al-Qaeda’s take is believed to be nearly $200 million in the eighteen months of the operation of the mines.
The Taliban’s failure to prevent international terrorism coming from Afghanistan means they have failed to honor one of the only commitments they made to the US in exchange for the withdrawal of international troops. But America continues to turn its back on the evidence gathered by other agencies. US intelligence reports, at least those made public, see al-Qaeda as at a “nadir” in Afghanistan, and no threat outside the country.
President Joe Biden’s last comments on the subject, which The Spectator covered, “showed that he was in denial.”
In a rare speech, the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhunzada, called the west “Satan” because of women’s rights. He also promised to ensure harsh punishments are carried out across the country (such as stoning for “adultery,”)
“Mere control over Kabul and the provinces isn’t our goal,” he said, “rather, we are committed to actively implementing Sharia in practice.”
Meanwhile, reports Mr. Loyn, a visiting senior fellow in the War Studies Department at King’s College, London and author of The Long War: The Inside Story of America and Afghanistan Since 9/11, “terrorists have been given free rein across the country.”
Not Easy Choices
In the WSJ, Russell Walter Mead writes of the bitter choice in measuring the need for compassion with the demands of strategy, decrying the victories of terrorist that inspire potential recruits:
Beyond fear and hope, our enemies also seek to use compassion as a weapon to divide us and ultimately paralyze our response. Even in hawkish Israel, the resolve to fight Hamas is pitted against the desire to free the hostages. Distraught friends, relatives and sympathetic members of the public agitate for something, anything, to free the hostages in Gaza at almost any cost. This is understandable and even commendable. But public safety requires that leaders measure the demands of compassion against the requirements of strategy. Hard, bitter choices are part of the job.
We must be steadfast against the fear they provoke, neither cowering and appeasing nor lashing out blindly to fight on their terms. And while never giving up on the compassion that is part of what makes us human, we must not let concern for their captives stand in the way of breaking the power of the guilty. To do anything else concedes the ultimate power over our world to hate-maddened killers and thugs.
Making Moral Judgements from an Armchair
William A. Galston, in a separate WSJ article, explains how Hamas has created hard choices for Israel. International law doesn’t prohibit Israelis from attacking legitimate military targets located near civilians. It does, however, require Israel to balance the worth of the potential military advantage gained against anticipated damage to civilians.
As military commanders try to strike this balance, their decisions are frequently contested, and reports of civilian suffering are disturbing. This helps explain why many American Jews observed Purim this year with troubled hearts. Yet compared with Israelis, relatively few American Jews have direct experience with military service, let alone armed conflict. Making moral judgments is much easier from the armchair than on the battlefield.
In order to prevent another 7 October, most Israelis agree that Hamas must be destroyed as an armed force and a governing unity.
Even with the most careful planning, further loss of civilian life seems unavoidable—unless Israel agrees to limits that would allow Hamas to survive and claim victory. This Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t do, nor would any other possible Israeli leader.