UN Experts Say ISIS Has Increased Its Operational Activities in Afghanistan

A group of UN experts announced that ISIS, which is the most serious terrorist threat in Afghanistan and the region, has increased its operational capabilities.

A group of UN experts announced that ISIS, which is the most serious terrorist threat in Afghanistan and the region, has increased its operational capabilities.
According to reports, the number of ISIS members and their families has been estimated to be between 4,000 and 6,000.
According to a report by the UN experts released on Monday, the group known as the Islamic State or Daesh still commands between five and seven thousand members throughout its former base in Syria and Iraq.
In their report, these experts emphasised that ISIS fighters are the most serious terrorist threat in Afghanistan today.
UN experts said that despite the significant losses in the leadership of the ISIS group and the reduction of its activities in Syria and Iraq, there is still a risk of its resurgence. The report noted that ISIS has reshaped its strategy and adapted to local populations.
Based on ISIS's strategy, the group has been careful to choose battles that are likely to result in less casualties.

Zakia Khudadadi, an Afghan refugee girl, won the European Para Taekwondo championship (47kg category) after defeating two Turkish and one Ukrainian athletes.
After winning the championship in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in a message, she dedicated her win to Afghan women.
Khudadadi won the first match with a decisive result of 32-2 against Busra Emire from Turkey; then she defeated Viktoriia Marchuk from Ukraine (18-9) and reached the final.
In the final, she faced Nurcihan Ekinci, another Turkish athlete. Although the match was tied 6-6; but Khudadadi won the European championship due to better performance and judges' votes.
In a message sent to Afghanistan International TV, Khudadadi said, "I shed tears throughout the distribution of medals and awards because I am a refugee and my country's flag was not present at the competition, nor was the national anthem of Afghanistan played at the competition hall.”
She was a former member of Afghanistan's national para taekwondo team and had represented her country in various national and international competitions and won several medals. On her X account, Khudadadi wrote, "I present this gold medal of the European Championship to all the brave girls and women of my country, Afghanistan."
Despite doubts about her participation in the Tokyo Paralympic games after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, Khudadadi managed to go to France with Hossein Rasouli and carry the Afghan flag at the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics.
She is the first Afghan female athlete who was able to secure the Paralympic quota.
Zakia Khudadadi, who has a disability in her left hand and still does not have a French passport, said, "I am the first disabled Afghan woman to win a gold medal in the European Championship."

The National Resistance Front (NRF) announced that the front’s forces have killed three members of the Taliban in Sina village of Jurm district of Badakhshan province.
NRF told Afghanistan International that its forces were not harmed in the attack that took place on Sunday night.
In a statement, NRF added that the weapons and ammunition of these three Taliban members have been confiscated by the Taliban members.
The Taliban has not reacted to NRF’s statement so far.
NRF and Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF), which continue to fight against the Taliban, have increased their military operations against the Taliban in recent days.
The two anti-Taliban resistance groups have reported several operations against Taliban forces in various provinces of Afghanistan.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US special representative for Afghanistan, said that former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani couldn’t deliver his tasks properly, therefore, he blames America for the fall of his government.
Khalilzad added that after the signing of the Doha agreement, the US continued their political and military support to Afghanistan.
Khalilzad referred to Ghani’s visit to Washington and how he was warmly welcomed by senior US officials and stressed that the trip took place after the signing of the Doha Peace Agreement between the Taliban and the US.
According to Khalilzad, America's military support to the Afghan security forces continued even after the signing of the agreement, and this support came even though, according to him, not one American soldier had been killed by the Taliban during this period.
This is even though many, including senior officials of the former government and those close to Ashraf Ghani, consider the signing of the Doha Agreement and the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan as the cause of the fall of the Afghan government and the rise of the Taliban.

Nai, Supporting Free Media in Afghanistan, announced that the Taliban forces detained three journalists in Kandahar on Sunday.
According to Nai, the detained journalists include Shamsullah Omari, Wahid ur-Rahman Afghanmal and Ataullah Omar.
The reason behind the detention of these three journalists is not yet clear.
On Monday, Nai stressed that the detention of journalists has increased in Afghanistan.
Nai stated that in the past two weeks, the Taliban have detained eight journalists across the country.
Nai urged the Ministry of Information and Culture of the Taliban, especially the Media Violation Commission, to conduct the necessary investigations on the fate of the detained journalists.

On the eve of the second anniversary of the fall of the republic order in Afghanistan, Afghan protesters staged demonstrations in various countries and asked the international community to help them overthrow the Taliban government.
The demonstrators urged the international community to stop their engagement with the Taliban.
Protesters declared the continuation of Taliban rule as a threat to Afghanistan, the region and the world.
On Sunday, Afghan protesters in Canada, Germany, and some other countries criticised the world's engagement with the Taliban on the occasion of the "Solidarity with the Afghan People against the Taliban" week and described it as "alignment with terrorism".
These protesters criticised the "secret engagements and negotiations behind closed doors" of some countries with the Taliban and called for an end to such engagements.
They said that the Taliban is a threat to the security of the region and the world and "any disregard for it will result in severe consequences”.
About two weeks ago, Thomas West, and Rina Amiri, US representatives for Afghanistan, met with Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Doha. This meeting was met with a wave of criticism from Afghans.
These protesters also referred to the "war crimes, gender apartheid, forced migration, genocide, and attacks on religious ceremonies of Shiites” and asked the United Nations and human rights organisations to cooperate in "referring the Taliban and its crimes to the International Criminal Court”.
