ISLAMABAD – In recent days, the Daesh issue has been brought vividly to thesurface and the new National Internal Security Policy (NISP), approved bythe last federal cabinet, has warned: “The emergence of Daesh in closeproximity to Pakistan has raised new internal security challenges.
The potential for spill over in Pakistan with the support and collaborationof TTP and its offshoots is not a possibility to be ignored. This situationhas been compounded by the return of battle-hardened militants from Syriaand Iraq.”
The Daesh terrorists have been pouring into Afghanistan from the MiddleEast in droves with foreign backing. In fact, they have been brought in todestablise Pakistan, Iran and Central Asian States and Russia and China bymounting massive terror attacks.
Worried Afghan officials and lawmakers have admitted to their presence andsuggested to prevent the enemy from gaining ground. Hazrat Ali, an Afghanlawmaker and a Wolesi Jirga member from Nangarhar, has admitted that aDaesh military base was operating near the old Customs office in Jalalabad,the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan. He hasstated the office was supplying weapons and fighters to districts.
Earlier, former Afghan president Karzai had admitted to the presence andnurturing of the deadly terrorist group in his country, saying they werebeing flown in helicopters. Meanwhile, according to reports, seniorintelligence officials from Iran, Russia, China, and Pakistan have reachedan agreement to join efforts against the Daesh terror group in Afghanistan.Becoming more vocal on the subject, they agreed to integrated efforts forrooting out the outfit from Afghanistan, the drive aimed at “ensuringregional peace and to eliminate terrorism from the region.”
In 2017, the fourth report of the UN Secretary-General on the threat posedby Daesh to international peace and security was presented to UnitedNations Security Council. The report made it clear that as Daesh losesterritories in Syria and Iraq, it had shifted focus and has been committingmore attacks outside of those states. It emphasised there was still a greatneed for “sustained, coordinated responses to the grave threat posed by[Daesh] and associated groups and entities” on the national andinternational level.
Meanwhile, the United States condemned the latest wave of terrorism inPakistan, dubbing the attacks as cowardly attempts to deprive the Pakistanipeople of their democratic rights. “The United States strongly condemnsthis week’s attacks on political candidates and their supporters inBalochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces of Pakistan. These attacks arecowardly attempts to deprive the Pakistani people of their democraticrights,” US Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert said in astatement. “We grieve with those mourning the victims, and hope for a rapidrecovery of those injured. We will continue to stand with the people ofPakistan and the broader South Asia region in their fight againstterrorism.”
While the statement was welcomed, the only way to stand with the people ofPakistan and the broader South Asia region in their fight against terrorismis to step up efforts by foreign forces against Daesh, TTP and other suchgroups in Afghanistan. It is important that the flow of Daesh Takfiris, whoare ideologically and fundamentally expansionist in character, should bestopped into Afghanistan as they seem to induce regional instability. Theforeign forces in the neighbouring country should tackle them and degradetheir capabilities without delay.