Islamic State could launch attacks in tourist hotspots across Europe and Asia, a top general warned. General Michael Kurilla, head of US Central Command, told Congress that at least “hundreds of thousands” of Americans would be vulnerable to attack as ISIS regrouped.
ISIS-K – or the Islamic State in Khorasan – is a branch of the terrorist group based in Afghanistan and is an enemy of both the ruling Taliban and the United States.
The group claimed responsibility for the Kabul Airport bombing in 2021 as US and allied troops evacuated the country during the collapse of the Afghan National Army.
The August 2021 attack saw 170 Afghans killed as well as 13 US soldiers. The group launched more attacks across Afghanistan in 2022. General Michael Kurilla told the Senate Armed Services Committee that ISIS-K could potentially strike Europe within “six months”.
“It is my commander’s estimate that they can do an external operation against US or Western interests abroad in under six months with little to no warning,” Kurilla said.
Islamic State swept across parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, establishing a so-called caliphate under a strict interpretation of Sharia law.
Although much of the group was destroyed or driven underground following a bombardment and special forces campaign by the US and its allies, terrorist groups sprung up under Islamic State’s umbrella.
ISIS-K was one of those groups, created in eastern Afghanistan by disaffected members of the Taliban – a group which ISIS-K now fights against in Afghanistan.
Other top US officials have also recently warned about the group. National Counterterrorism Centre Director, Christine Abizaid, said in January ISIS-K was the “threat actor I am most concerned about”.
“We see concerning indications of ISIS-Khorasan in Afghanistan and its ambition that might go beyond that immediate territory,” she said.
Last week, the chief of the Defence Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, said: “It’s a matter of time before they may have the ability and intent to attack the West.”
Following the fall of the Western backed government in Afghanistan, it is believed ISIS-K’s numbers have swelled from 2,200 to around 4,000. It’s unclear how much influence the main ISIS group has over the offshoot.
ISIS-K continues to operate in Afghanistan and Pakistan where it carried out the 2021 Kabul Airport bombings and attacks on Chinese citizens in Afghanistan among other attacks in the region.
