This dyad belongs to the conflict Pakistan: Islamic State
Summary of conflict Pakistan: Islamic State
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.
Although IS activity in the region was mainly concentrated to Afghanistan, in 2016 activities increased in Pakistan as well. A suicide attack in Quetta, killing 61 people shocked the country. In 2017, the conflict escalated as IS carried out several suicide attacks in Pakistan. Even though the fighting between the government of Pakistan and IS continued after 2017, the conflict decreased considerably in intensity until 2021 when an upward trend began. In 2023, the conflict between the government and IS reached the highest levels of intensity since the conflict was first recorded by the UCDP, although still being one of the minor conflicts in the country. After a one-year lull in fighting in 2024, the conflict was once again active in 2025, with events recorded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
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.
