The Islamic State in Khorasan: Afghanistan, Pakistan and the New Central Asian Jihad

314 Pages·2018·3.15 MB·English

by  Antonio Giustozzi

THE ISLAMIC STATE IN KHORASAN

ANTONIO GIUSTOZZI
The Islamic State
in Khorasan
Afghanistan, Pakistan
and the New Central Asian Jihad
HURST & COMPANY, LONDON
First published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by
C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.,

41 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3PL
© Antonio Giustozzi, 2018
All rights reserved.
The right of Antonio Giustozzi to be identified as the author
of this publication is asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
A Cataloguing-in-Publication data record for this book
is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 9781849049641 hardback
This book is printed using paper from registered sustainable
and managed sources.
www.hurstpublishers.com
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
Glossary ix
List of Acronyms xi
List of Groups and Individuals xiii
Introduction 1
1. How it All Began 19
2. Aims and Strategy 41
3. Efforts to ‘Synchronise’ IS-K with IS-Central 67
4. Hybrid: IS-K Structure Between Centralisation and Centrifugal
Tendencies 89
5. Drivers of Support for IS-K 121
6. The Expansion of IS-K 139
7. The Funding of IS-K 161
8. Shaking Up the World of Khorasan’s Jihadism 173
9. The Dead End of Salafism and IS-K Adaptation 193
Conclusion 207
Appendix 1: The New Layha of Tehrik-e-Khalifat 221
Appendix 2: Organisational Diagram of IS-K, Early 2016 223
Appendix 3: The Jihadist Network of Khorasan in 2011, According to
Interviewees. Only the Main Groups and Organisations
are Mentioned 225
Appendix 4: The Jihadist Network of Khorasan in 2017, According to
Interviewees. Only the Main Groups and Organisations
are Mentioned 227
Notes 229
Index 283
v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is the result of a research project carried out with the Royal United
Service Institute and funded by the Smith Richardson Foundation. The latter
deserves special thanks, since the book would have been impossible to pro-
duce without its generous contribution. The book also benefits from work
done while researching articles for Jane’s, from small research projects done on
occasion and from previous projects on the Afghan Taliban and the Central
Asian jihadists. The author thanks all those involved and in particular
Raffaello Pantucci (RUSI) and Emily Winterbotham (RUSI), who com-
mented the original text and provided very useful advice. The author also
wishes to thank Michael Dwyer, Sebastian Ballard, Prerana Patel, Jack
McGinn and everybody else at Hurst, as well as the anonymous reviewers for
their constructive criticism of the original manuscript.
The author also wishes to thank all those who contributed to the develop-
ment of his ideas and views on the subject in meetings, workshops and confer-
ences. They are far too many to be mentioned here individually.
Special thanks go to the researchers, who carried out the bulk of the inter-
views in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other locations. They have to remain
anonymous for security reasons, but their efforts were essential to the research
project. The author assumes all responsibility for the analysis contained in this
text, of course.
vii