"ISKP's leader Shahab right now is working within Taliban ranks, but the Taliban don't know him," the former intelligence official told CBS News.
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The other former Afghan security official says captured ISIS-K militants would routinely tell interrogators they'd met al-Muhajir, but "when we showed them photos to identify al-Muhajir, they used to point the finger at the wrong person, meaning even people within ISKP were meeting an imposter, not the real boss." All they found was his national ID card - with his real name on it - and another ID identifying him as a member of the Afghan army. One of the former Afghan government security sources said al-Muhajir had even managed to hold a meeting with Taliban deputy head of intelligence Mullah Tajmir Jawad, without the official realizing he was talking to the ISIS-K leader.Ī former senior Afghan intelligence officer tells CBS News that about one year ago, "after lots of hard work," the country's security forces managed to locate al-Muhajir, but the ISIS-K leader escaped capture. The former Afghan security officials say al-Muhajir has managed to keep hiding his real identity and continue operating as a Taliban imposter. While other ISIS-K commanders have focused on seizing territory, the former Afghan officials say al-Muhajir is part of a more strategic cadre that aims to undermine Afghanistan's leadership to gain freedom to operate. "His taking the reins of power in mid-2020 culminated in radical change for the organization, change that has seen it transitioning from a fragmented and degraded network into the aggressive phalanx it is today." "Whatever his ethnicity, he has ended up being much better positioned than his predecessors to revive ISKP," Ex-Trac, an organization that analyzes threats posed by extremist groups, wrote in an August assessment. (Afghans often use only one name.)Īn Afghan government identification card, found and provided to CBS News by former Afghan intelligence officials, shows a man named Sanaullah, who is believed to be the leader of ISIS-K known commonly as Shahab al-Muhajir. Two former high-ranking Afghan government security officials and the senior member of the current Taliban regime have told CBS News, however, that he is a veteran of Afghanistan's domestic insurgency, and that his real name is Sanaullah. Most assumed from his name that he was of Arab, not Afghan descent.
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In June 2020, the top job went to a militant known as Shahab al-Muhajir. (ISIS-K is also known by other acronyms, including ISKP.) drones or Afghan security forces over four years following its founding. 2/2įour of ISIS-K's top commanders were killed by U.S. Wednesday’s attack on a madrassa in Khost unclaimed. Islamic State(KP) claimed responsibility for Sunday’s incident next to a Kabul mosque. Today’s incident is part of a disturbing pattern of violence: 3rd deadly attack this week apparently targeting a religious institution. But ISIS-K has a long history of attacking Afghanistan's Shiite Muslim minority, and Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi told CBS News that ISIS-K was behind the carnage.
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The group didn't immediately claim the devastating bombing on Friday that hit a mosque in Kunduz, leaving scores of people dead. Since forming in 2015, ISIS-K has carried out some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan.
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That carries risks not only for Afghanistan, but for the United States and its allies. Some Taliban foot soldiers are believed to have abandoned the group to join ISIS-K or al Qaeda, preferring an even more extreme - and brutal - interpretation of Islam, but these sources say the ISIS faction is working deliberately to undermine the Taliban's authority from both inside and outside the group. The officials spoke to CBS News on the condition of anonymity. Senior members of the former Afghan government and one top Taliban official currently in a security role say the leader of ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), a notorious terror operative whose identity has remained shrouded in mystery for years, is believed to be among the infiltrators. The sudden move was prompted by concerns that other extremist groups have infiltrated the Taliban's ranks.
#UNDERMINE SECRET ROOMS FULL#
In late September, Afghanistan's new Taliban leaders ordered their commanders to conduct a full background check on all fighters.