SUMMARY
In 2015, the Islamic State ( IS) became active in Afghanistan for the first time announcing the creation of the Khorasan province of the Islamic State on 26 January. IS recruited most of its members from the Taleban movement and other groups operating in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan. During the second half of 2015 they managed to seize parts of Achin district in Nangarhar, an area in which they have continued to be strong.
Fighting between the government of Afghanistan, supported by US airstrikes, and IS peaked in 2018, causing more than 2,800 deaths. In August 2018, the IS-Khorasan emir Abu Saad Erhabi was killed in an Afghan-US joint operation. This was the fourth local leader of the group to die since the start of the conflict in Afghanistan. His two followers were both arrested in 2020. Since 2020, violence has plummeted and has caused around 150-300 fatalities each year. This is the lowest intensity since the start of the conflict in 2015 and IS has been weakened in their previous strongholds, such as Nangarhar province. Increasingly turning to 'soft targets', however, IS carried out several large-scale suicide attacks in 2024, both against state installations but also targeting civilians. Many attacks were directed towards the Shiite community in Kabul city. In 2025, violence deescalated, both in terms of fighting with the security forces and the use of one-sided violence.
IN DEPTH
The emergence of the Islamic State - Khorasan
During 2014, reports emerged of the presence of the IS in Afghanistan and Pakistan. By the end of the year, some local commanders had pledged allegiance (bay’ah) to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
On 10 January 2015, six former TTP (Tehrik-I Taliban Pakistan) leaders released a video in which they again pledged allegiance to IS and nominated Hafiz Khan Saeed as the leader of the group. Two weeks later, on 26 January, IS accepted the bay’ah. In the official audio statement “Say, Die in your rage!”, the IS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani announced the expansion of the Islamic State, creating Wilayah Khorasan (Khorasan Province). Khorasan refers to an historical region covering parts of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Former TTP commander Hafiz Khan Saeed was appointed the group's governor, and former Taleban commander Mullah Abdol Rauf Ahmadi his deputy. However, Abdol Rauf was killed in a US drone strike in early February.
IS recruited most of its members from the Taleban movement and other groups operating in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In August, the originally Uzbek group IMU, which had been fighting under the Taleban for many years, pledged allegiance to IS and announced that they were now members of the Khorasan province.
Besides fighting the Afghan government, IS has also been involved in numerous clashes against the Taleban, trying to take control over territory in the eastern parts of the country. During the second half of 2015 they managed to seize parts of Achin district in Nangarhar, an area in which they have continued to be strong. By the end of the year, IS had also set up its own radio station in Nangarhar province, the "Voice of the Caliphate".
Decline of IS-Khorasan
Fighting between the government of Afghanistan, supported by US airstrikes, and IS peaked in 2018, causing more than 2,800 deaths. IS was pushed back in parts of Nangarhar province and there were signs of the group being weakened in their previous strongholds. In August 2018, the IS-Khorasan emir Abu Saad Erhabi was killed in an Afghan-US joint operation. This was the fourth local leader of the group to die since the start of the conflict in Afghanistan. His two followers were both arrested in 2020.
In 2020, violence plummeted and caused just over 300 fatalities. This was the lowest intensity since the start of the conflict in 2015. Increasingly turning to 'soft targets', however, IS carried out several large-scale suicide attacks during the year, both against state installations but also targeting civilians. Many attacks were directed towards the Shiite community in Kabul city.
On 15 August 2021, the Taleban took Kabul and the ousted president Ashraf Ghani fled the country. IS continued to fight the new Taleban regime, attacking Taleban members primarily in Nangarhar and Kabul. IS also stepped up its attacks on civilians, primarily Shia Muslims and Hazaras. In 2024, the Salafi group carried out numerous large-scale complex attacks against civilian targets, such as educational centres and mosques. In 2025, violence deescalated, both in terms of fighting with the security forces and the use of one-sided violence.
