Khalilullah Safi
Founder and director of the Afghanistan Peace Studies Organization (APSO)
On July 6, 2023, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) hosted a webinar focusing on two of the key terrorist threats emanating from the situation in Afghanistan. The Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) is one of the most active regional affiliates of ISIS’s global network. ISKP remains in a complex relationship with the Taliban, in particular the powerful Haqqani Network and has operational ambitions that are not confined to Afghanistan. Furthermore, due to the symbiotic relationship of the Taliban movement with a wide range of terror groups, which the movement shelters and protects, as well as with the illegal drug industry in Afghanistan, the risks of aid diversion for the financing of terrorism and large-scale money laundering are significant. Therefore, more effective monitoring and control mechanisms should be introduced to mitigate these risks.