OVERVIEW

ISIS-Khorasan flag

One of ISIS’s most lethal branches, ISIS-Khorasan has killed or injured thousands of people in Afghanistan and Pakistan since its inception in 2015. The branch also has conducted attacks in Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and it seeks to conduct operations against the United States and Europe.

Formed in 2015 by members of militant groups—including Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan—who pledged allegiance to ISIS, ISIS-Khorasan aspires to establish a province in ISIS’s self-proclaimed caliphate by controlling territory in “the Khorasan,” referring to Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan, Central Asia, and Iran. The branch primarily fights against the Taliban in Afghanistan while seeking to discredit the governments of neighboring countries, promote sectarian violence, and exploit poor economic conditions and social divisions to attract members. The branch obtains funding from ISIS in Syria and sources in Afghanistan.

OPERATING AREA
Afghanistan and Pakistan

MEMBERS
Approximately 2,000

TACTICS AND TARGETS
ISIS-Khorasan employs ambushes, military-style assaults, targeted killings, and bombings. It focuses most of its attacks on Taliban personnel and regularly attacks foreign aid workers, religious and ethnic minority groups, and civilians whom it perceives as enemies opposing its interpretation of Islamic law. The branch also attacked US military personnel before US forces withdrew from Afghanistan. ISIS-Khorasan fighters primarily use small arms, light and heavy machineguns, rockets, and improvised explosive devices in their attacks.

FOREIGN TERRORIST GROUP DESIGNATION
The US State Department designated ISIS-Khorasan as a foreign terrorist organization in January 2016. Sanaullah Ghafari, who has been the branch’s amir since June 2020, was named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in November 2021.

KEY LEADERS

NOTABLE ATTACKS