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Five years ago this month, an American-backed Kurdish and Arab militia ousted Islamic State fighters from a village in eastern Syria, the groups last sliver of territory.

Since then, the organization that once staked out a self-proclaimed caliphate across Iraq and Syria has metastasized into a more traditional terrorist group a clandestine network of cells from West Africa to Southeast Asia engaged in guerrilla attacks, bombings and targeted assassinations.

None of the groups affiliates have been as relentless as the Islamic State in Khorasan, which is active in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran and has set its sights on attacking Europe and beyond. U.S. officials say the group carried out the attack near Moscow on Friday, killing scores of people and wounding many others.

In January, Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, carried out twin bombings in Iran that killed scores and wounded hundreds of others at a memorial service for Irans former top general, Qassim Suleimani, who was targeted in a U.S. drone strike four years earlier.

The threat from ISIS, Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, told a Senate panel this month, remains a significant counterterrorism concern. Most attacks globally taken on by ISIS have actually occurred by parts of ISIS that are outside of Afghanistan, she said.

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ISIS Affiliate Linked to Moscow Attack Has Global Ambitions - The New York Times

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Robina Azizi was only 16 years old when her country was overrun by Taliban soldiers. She and her family had left their town, Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital city of Afghanistans northwestern province of Balkh, only a week before, as news of the Talibans arrival was already widespread. Azizi was supposed to be at her 10th-grade exam the next daybut she would never finish her schooling.

When I returned home from school, my mother asked me to pack my things as I was leaving for Kabul, Azizi told The Daily Beast. I protested because I still had my exam the next day. But my mother told me that if I didnt leave now and if the Taliban came, they would force me to marry them.

Azizi now lives in Pakistan, where she relocated with her family in Oct. 2022. Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in Aug. 2021, the country has become the worlds largest prison for women. The first education ban was announced for girls in grade six and above in Mar. 2022. In December, university education was also banned. More than 1 million girls and young women have been affected as a result. More than two years since the Taliban came to power, girls and women have been excluded from all public life, losing rights and civil liberties by the day.

The situation is really bad for us because women are not allowed to walk on the streets, said Yalda, a 20-year-old Afghan woman whose name has been withheld to protect her identity. Before the takeover, she excelled in her exams and aspired to study medicine; now the education ban imposed on girls and women forces her to stay at home.

Robina Azizi founded Girls on the Path of Change (GPC) in April 2023. Utilizing social media, she quickly spread the word, launching the first session and inviting girls from across the country to share their stories in an online community.

We cannot leave our houses, and if they [Taliban] see a woman outside without a hijab, they can arrest them, she said. All day, we sit at home and do nothing. Sometimes I cry and dont know what to do.

When Azizi moved to the capital of Afghanistan just weeks before the countrys fall, she found herself in an online school. Seeing the struggles of girls in different provinces with their online classes, she decided to step in and help them navigate through courses and find suitable schools.

Azizis goal was to ensure they had everything they needed for successful online learning. Bringing together girls from various areas and assisting them in pursuing the education they wanted brought her a lot of happiness.

We didnt even have proper phones or internet or computers, Azizi said. But we somehow stayed connected through WhatsApp. Most of the girls I was helping at the time were my classmates from online school.

Inspired by her experiences, Azizi founded Girls on the Path of Change (GPC) in April 2023. Utilizing social media, she quickly spread the word, launching the first session and inviting girls from across the country to share their stories in an online community.

"No one wants to listen to girls in Afghanistan; I wanted to change that. So, my first session was all about listening to them and understanding their problems, she explained.

GPCs main aim is to provide educational opportunities to Afghan girls affected by successive Taliban bans on education beyond grade six. Operating without funding, the organization relies on volunteers offering language classes and programs like photography and painting.

A month later, GPC launched its online courses with 10 volunteers in her team from around the world, and hundreds of students joining from all parts of Afghanistan. What began as a solo effort has now evolved into a more extensive team of 10 volunteers, with more than 600 students graduating from GPC classes in 2023.

The community is now expanding to include more teachers and students. Alexandra Slayton, who teaches English as a foreign language (TEFL) online from Massachusetts, is one such volunteer.

One of my former students, Ana, taught Robina in a virtual class. It is through her that I learned about Robina and her story. I was intrigued by her so I requested Ana to set up a meeting with her, Slayton said. I was expecting to see an adult woman, especially since the organization was as well-established as it is[] but was quite surprised to meet a teenager.

Today, Azizis initiative successfully conducts workshops, exhibitions, and motivational seminars, reaching thousands of girls across more than five provinces in the country. It actively engages in various fields like photography, painting, writing, online commerce, foreign languages, poetry, and public speaking, with plans for further expansion in the near future.

Despite her good intentions, the path for change is not as easy or seamless as Robina would hope. The risks associated with the Talibans strict decrees and the logistical challenges of maintaining a steady internet connection pose significant obstacles.

Amaan, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, is an education activist from Afghanistans Herat province and volunteers as a manager for GPC. He oversees their digital marketing and teaches beginner English courses. Despite his passion for the work with the organization, he is compelled to maintain a low profile for his safety.

"The governments rules for girls and their education are not favorable for us, Amaan told The Daily Beast. However, its not the time to sit and ignore; its time to act.

They dont know about us or where we are located, he added. If they find out, we will be arrested.

In Oct. 2023, Pakistan announced that all undocumented Afghan migrants must leave the country. Since then, more than 1.7 million refugees have been repatriated to Afghanistan, and it is expected that more than 2 million will be affected by this ruling. For those still residing in Afghanistan, poor internet connection and a lack of infrastructure affect their ability to participate regularly in these classes.

What began as a solo effort has now evolved into a more extensive team of 10 volunteers, with more than 600 students graduating from GPC classes in 2023.

Yalda, who started learning English at GPC so she could continue her education, expresses frustration about missing classes due to the lack of WiFi at her home and the instability of her phone network. This concern is shared by her English teacher, Tamara, who joined as a volunteer after reading a post on the organizations Facebook page.

I was genuinely excited to support the Afghan girls and volunteered to teach English, Tamara told The Daily Beast. One challenge, as I mentioned, is the technological aspect; very often, we were cutting in and out. People didnt have connectivity.

Azizi, who has recently moved to Germany from Pakistan, is well aware of the challenges of managing the organization. However, she remains optimistic that she can now complete her own education while simultaneously working on expanding the reach of GPC.

I feel like I have more chances here, especially to help girls. No one can make me leave, and I feel really free, she said. Ill do my best to create more opportunities for girls back home. Unlike in Pakistan, I dont need any permits anymore, so I can work feeling much safer.

Fortunately for her, volunteers like Slayton bring wealth of experience and provide valuable support to streamline operations to reach more people in Afghanistan. Slayton, who leveraged her network and built a LinkedIn page, GPC English Academy, has allowed the team to attract volunteers from various parts of the world who want to help in teaching Afghan girls. But the long-term goal is to secure funding.

We dream to secure a grant from the US government to provide stipends for teachers and sustain their commitment, Slayton said. Additionally, the organization aspires to access a learning management system for classes, moving beyond the current limitations of free platforms like Google Meet and Zoom and moving to premium accounts to get more features to work with.

As the organization establishes itself, many girls in Afghanistan feel that GPC and its initiative give them a new chance at life.

I like GPC a lot. It helps girls like me who cant go out to study, Yalda said. GPC lets me learn English online, and it encourages me to speak well. I have good teachers, and every day, I learn new things.

Read more:
Robina Azizi Fled the Taliban. Now She's Saving Girls' Education in Afghanistan - The Daily Beast

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A militiaman in Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan, where the Islamic State has been active, on Feb. 15, 2019.JIM HUYLEBROEK/The New York Times News Service

Ruchi Kumar is an Indian journalist based in Mumbai who covers South Asia.

A terrorist attack on Moscows Crocus concert hall on Friday has resulted in more than 130 deaths and left several hundreds injured. Responsibility for the complex attack, one of the deadliest in Russia in decades, was immediately claimed by Islamic State more specifically, according to U.S. intelligence officials, the terrorist groups branch in Central Asia (particularly Afghanistan), known as the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). U.S. intelligence has confirmed this claim, though Russias foreign ministry has questioned it.

Islamic State, which fully emerged in 2014 out of the conflict in Iraq and Syria (where Vladimir Putin has supported Bashar al-Assads regime), lost power and influence following successful counterinsurgency efforts across the globe. However, the Talibans 2021 takeover of Afghanistan has facilitated the militant groups resurgence as the countrys authorities struggle to rein in ISKP, an offshoot that aims to create a caliphate in the historic Khorasan region. Now, it is orchestrating more frequent and deadlier attacks, both regionally and in Afghanistan; on the same day as the attack in Russia, at least 21 people were killed in an ISKP suicide bombing in Kandahar.

In some ways, the Moscow attack should not have been a surprise. A recent monitoring report released earlier this year by members of the United Nations Security Council observed a high concentration of terrorist groups in Afghanistan, with the greatest threat from the ISKP. The resurgent terrorist outfit has been conducting frequent attacks with greater lethality, according to an assessment last year by the UNs Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, which also documented more than 190 suicide-bomb attacks by ISKP in major cities in the region since 2022, including large-scale attacks on Russian and Chinese embassies in Kabul. And in February, Andrey Serdyukov, the chief of the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), warned that the increased presence of ISKP and other terrorist camps in northern Afghanistan represented the main threat to the stability in Central Asia.

What is unfortunate is the way that the Taliban, who have deprived Afghans, particularly women, of their basic rights and dignity, have effectively empowered this resurgence. ISKP is a sworn enemy of the Taliban, as the group seeks to destabilize existing governments in the region, and so Afghanistan has joined the global counterinsurgency effort against this group allowing the Taliban to portray themselves as allies in the pursuit of international recognition for their government. Taliban leaders have also repeatedly insisted that theyve been successful in maintaining security in the country, preventing the use of Afghan soil for global terrorist activities a condition of the Doha agreement that the Taliban signed with the U.S. in 2020.

In reality, however, they have struggled to rein in terrorist groups. Security reports and experts have estimated that as many as 6,000 foreign fighters may have moved into Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. In the last year, the UN report noted, the presence of foreign terrorist fighters harboured by the Taliban has become an increasing security threat to many neighbouring countries. And while there have been regular operations against ISKP cells, the government simultaneously denies the extent of their presence in the country, even claiming as recently as last year that no foreign armed group is active in Afghanistan.

Whats more, the Taliban even directly assisted this resurgence, having released thousands of criminals, including hundreds of ISKP militants, from Afghan prisons as they took over Kabul. Many of the released fighters went on to conduct several major attacks, including one at the Kabul airport by an ISKP suicide bomber that killed nearly 200 fleeing Afghans and 13 U.S. service members in August, 2021.

With the under-resourced Taliban regime in power in Afghanistan, groups such as ISKP have been allowed unregulated movement to regroup, mobilize fighters and recruit new members, even from the Talibans own ranks, with many members sympathizing with Islamic States fundamentalist ideologies.

In fact, the Talibans ideological sympathies with certain terror groups, such as al-Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), means that they have been reluctant to act against the threats posed by them to the regional countries. This double standard where the Taliban portray themselves as allies against ISKP, while supporting their own preferred selection of terrorist groups is in direct violation of the Doha deal, and has posed challenges for governments seeking to engage with them to mitigate security threats spilling across the borders from Afghanistan.

The insecurity in Afghanistan calls for a cohesive and intergovernmental approach on counterterrorism that includes regional stakeholders. But more importantly, any counterinsurgency policy should aim to press the Taliban to uphold its commitments to the Doha deal and target all terrorist outfits in Afghanistan, so that the country does not become a safe haven for international terrorism.

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Opinion: Afghanistan is becoming a safe haven for terrorists again - The Globe and Mail

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BANGKOK Afghanistans national futsal team clinched third place in the NSDF Futsal Championship, edging out Malaysia 3-2 in a closely contested match on Thursday in Thailand.

Earning the bronze medal, Afghanistan demonstrated resilience and skill throughout the tournament. The team managed a draw against Malaysia in the opening game and secured a notable victory over Australia in their subsequent match.

The final match of the tournament, featuring Thailand against Australia, is scheduled for today.

Hosted by Thailand, the NSDF Futsal Championship highlighted the competitive spirit and talent of the participating teams, with Afghanistans performance marking a significant achievement on the international stage.

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Afghanistan secures third place in NSDF Futsal Championship - Amu TV

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There is also the possibility that, like many militant groups in the region and IS affiliates, they claim credit for attacks that they outsource to others or have little to do with organizing in the first place. This is a low-cost, high-impact means to spread their message and gain recruits. But it also makes it incredibly difficult to gauge how dangerous they actually are, and how best to defeat them.

On March 25, ISIS-K media outlets issued a rambling claim they executed the attack in Moscow but it was thin on evidence. It claimed the Moscow attack was meant to embarrass the Taliban government, undermining its counter-terror pledges and to discourage Chinese and Russian investment in Afghanistan.

ISIS-K made similar claims after its September 2022 attack on the Russian embassy in Kabul.

ISIS-Ks ambitions are to establish an Islamic State in Central Asia.

Inside Afghanistan, its ranks are mainly drawn from disgruntled Taliban as well as young, conservative Afghans who oppose the Taliban. Its younger recruits are increasingly multi-ethnic, drawing in disaffected ethnic minority populations. It increasingly recruits from disaffected Afghans and Central Asians, particularly from Tajikistan, as well as from among Central Asian migrants in Turkey and Europe.

In Afghanistan, its recruitment entails careful vetting and indoctrination. Abroad, it relies heavily on social media outreach and messaging apps. Its news outfit, Amaq, publishes in at least five languages and runs Telegram channels in as many, if not more.

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What is ISIS-K, the terror group allegedly responsible for the Moscow concert hall attack? - POLITICO Europe

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