External threats to Syria from ISKP networks

In recent years, the activities of the security forces created by the Taliban to combat the Islamic State have prompted the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) to expand its operations beyond the country’s borders.

ISKP’s international profile is evident not only in its propaganda (publishing magazines, posters and podcasts in various languages such as Arabic, English, Pashto, Tajik, Russian, etc.) but also in its funding of other provinces and its conduct of terrorist operations outside Afghanistan. For its recent attacks outside Afghanistan (Russia, Iran, Turkey), ISKP has often used fighters from Central Asia, recruiting them from diaspora communities in neighbouring countries (particularly Uyghurs, Tajiks, Uzbeks, etc.) and in Western Europe. These attacks are not attributable solely to ISKP, which has certainly provided logistical and financial support, but to transnational networks of the Islamic State, including those of its other provinces.