ISIL-K: South Asia’s Gravest Terror Threat with 2,000 Fighters, UN Warns

The Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISIL-K), with an estimated 2,000 fighters, is the “most serious threat” in South Asia, according to the UN Security Council’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team’s 35th report, released July 8, 2025. Concentrated in northern and northeastern Afghanistan, particularly along the Pakistan border in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, ISIL-K actively recruits from Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Russia’s North Caucasus, leveraging madrassas for indoctrination and training minors as young as 14 in suicide tactics. Led by Sanaullah Ghafari (UN designation QDi.431), the group targets Shia communities, Taliban authorities, and foreigners, aiming to expand attacks into Central Asia.

The report highlights ISIL-K’s resilience despite Taliban crackdowns, exploiting corruption and infiltration within Taliban ranks. Its dual structure—local cells and a secretive external operations core—enables transnational plots, though 2025 saw no major external attacks, possibly due to financial disruptions and Baloch separatist clashes in Pakistan’s Balochistan. A July 2023 UN report estimated 4,000–6,000 ISIL-K members, but the 2025 figure of 2,000 reflects losses from Taliban raids and arrests, including key financier Shamil Hukumatov in Turkey.

Beyond ISIL-K, the report flags other regional threats, notably The Resistance Front (TRF), which claimed the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam attack killing 26. Some UN member states allege TRF is a front for Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), suggesting operational support. The Taliban’s permissive environment also shelters Al-Qaida, Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), Jamaat Ansarullah, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, fostering collaboration with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) under groups like Tehrik-e-Jihad Pakistan. Recruitment routes via Turkey and Iran (Van, Orumiyeh, Mashhad, Zahedan) to Herat and Nimroz bolster ISIL-K’s ranks, raising fears of violence export.

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