Backed by ISI, Haqqani Network is making a game-changing move in Afghanistan

According to officials, the ISKP can front attacks for the Haqqani Network and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT). ISKP leader Aslam Farooqi, a Pakistani national with links to LeT and Pakistan’s Tehrik-e-Taliban was arrested by Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security along with 19 other terrorist cadres on April 5.

Updated on: Aug 14, 2020, 19:38:37 IST

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By Shishir Gupta

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

The Pakistani deep state is pushing the Haqqani Network to increase its stake in so-called Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) to retain its leverage on Afghanistan irrespective of the on-going peace process and maintain plausible deniability in future terror attacks in Af-Pak region, according to senior counter-terrorism officials.

Sirajuddin Haqqani-led Haqqani network (right) is trying to raise its participation in the Islamic State of Khorasan Province after the arrest of its chief Aslam Farooqui (left) (Agencies)

According to officials, the ISKP can front attacks for the Haqqani Network and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT). ISKP leader Aslam Farooqi, a Pakistani national with links to LeT and Pakistan’s Tehrik-e-Taliban was arrested by Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security along with 19 other terrorist cadres on April 5.

Af-Pak watchers say that ISKP units in Kabul and the border province of Nangarhar are already under the firm control of former HQN commanders and Sirajuddin Haqqani, Deputy leader of Taliban, who are launching attacks on Afghan capital. Besides being part of the intelligence and reconnaissance gathering network, ISKP cadres are also attacking Kabul in tandem with the HQN group.

Also read: Pakistan proxies in fight to the finish in Afghanistan, but India too needs to prep | Analysis

The HQN’s influence in ISKP is not only restricted to the cadres joining the outfit but also transcends into various other levels such as leadership control, military and intelligence commissions and district levels Emirs of the global terrorist group. The ISKP is currently divided into three factions - Aslam Farooqi, Mauvviya and Imam Bukhari.

However, the attempt to take over ISKP by the Haqqani Network with the help of Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is not without its own set of challenges. The three factions are apprehensive of the Rawalpindi-backed group and are vehemently resisting the Haqqani Network’s effort to join the ISKP in Afghanistan.

The ISI, however, is helping the HQN try to open channels with the ISKP’s Imam Bukhari faction to bring it within the fold of “Khilafat-e-Islami Khorasan” and maintain strong operational cooperation.

“The HQN take over of ISKP could be a game-changing development as it will create a mega terror group of the Al Qaida variety with its handlers based in Rawalpindi getting Pakistan deniability of any attack in Indian sub-continent or in the west,” said a senior counter-terror official.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More

Get the latest World News, breaking headlines and global updates from the US, UK, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia and other countries. Follow major international events on Hindustan Times.