The Media Line: After Pakistan Captures IS-KP Propaganda Chief, Security Experts Warn of US Complacency Toward Afghanistan’s Terrorist Resurgence 

After Pakistan Captures IS-KP Propaganda Chief, Security Experts Warn of US Complacency Toward Afghanistan’s Terrorist Resurgence 

Farzana Shah, a Peshawar-based security and defense analyst: “Regional actors are responding to the Afghan-based threat with urgency, while US policymakers continue to treat it as a residual or manageable risk” 

By Arshad Mehmood/The Media Line 

[Islamabad] Pakistan, in a major counter-terrorism breakthrough, dismantled a primary pillar of the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-KP) by capturing its media mastermind, Sultan Aziz Azzam. 

Following a report submitted to the United Nations Security Council, Pakistan’s state media—the Associated Press of Pakistan and Pakistan Television Digital—confirmed that Azzam was taken into custody while attempting to cross into Pakistan.  

As the founder and architect of the notorious Al-Azaim Foundation, Azzam served as the global voice of IS-KP’s propaganda machine. 

The UN’s 16th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team noted that Azzam’s capture significantly degraded IS-KP’s regional operations and propaganda capabilities. 

An Afghan journalist turned commander, The US named Azzam as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” in November 2021. 

According to the UN Security Council, he had served as IS-KP spokesperson since the group’s establishment in Afghanistan in 2015. 

An Islamabad-based intelligence official told The Media Line: “Azzam’s arrest was the result of months of careful planning and coordinated counterterrorism efforts, aimed squarely at crippling IS-KP’s propaganda machinery.” 

He added that the impact was immediate: Key IS-KP channels, including the prominent “Voice of Khorasan,” went silent. 

Azzam leveraged his background as an Afghan journalist to amplify IS-KP’s violent ideology. 

He transformed the group’s visibility, utilizing sophisticated messaging to drive global recruitment and incite domestic terror. Azzam’s influence was defined by his role as the voice of the group’s most lethal operations. 

In August 2021, he claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which killed 170 Afghans and 13 US service members, and confirmed that IS-KP leader Sanaullah Ghafari personally supervised the attack. 

He also acted as the group’s moral arbiter for targeted atrocities. Following the 2021 assassination of three female journalists, Azzam released the People of Action manifesto to justify the killings. 

He orchestrated the audio release detailing the 2020 Jalalabad prison break, which left 29 dead. 

By framing these massacres as retaliatory justice, Azzam solidified his position as a central figure in IS-KP’s command structure, making his arrest a landmark victory in degrading the group’s psychological and operational reach. 

Azzam, who studied at Nangarhar University, was once a popular radio broadcaster. His media skills earned him a key role within IS-KP. 

He is not the first Islamic State (IS) leader arrested in Pakistan this year. In June 2025, senior IS commander Abu Yasir Al Turki was captured near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border during a joint operation with Turkey. One of IS’ most wanted terrorists, Al Turki had been involved in attacks in Russia and Europe. 

Established in 2015, IS-KP remains a lethal Afghan-based threat, exploiting security vacuums to launch high-profile regional attacks. 

UN reports confirm Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts have curtailed IS-KP, which continues to threaten Pakistan, Iran and Central Asia. 

Meanwhile, recent UN and US reports indicate that Hamza bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden, is alive and working to regroup al-Qaida in Afghanistan. 

The continued presence of IS-KP, al-Qaida and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Afghan soil highlights growing concerns that Afghanistan is once again a regional terrorism hub, posing serious threats to neighboring countries and international security. 

The Media Line spoke with global threat experts to shed light on the issue. 

Alex Mishra, a Master of Public Policy at Liberty University in the Washington, DC–Baltimore area who specializes in al-Qaida and Afghanistan-related issues, told The Media Line that “nearly 4.4 years after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the situation has evolved into what he described as a World War III flashpoint driven by a BRICS-led military alignment.” 

He underlined that from a US national security perspective, what he termed a “terror threat conglomerate” is far more dangerous than the pre-9/11 environment. 

Mishra noted that Afghanistan has once again become a hub for militant activity, with IS-KP, al-Qaida and more than 20 other terrorist groups operating training camps inside the country. 

He claimed that al-Qaida is plotting drone attacks against US cities, while many IS-KP terrorists from Tajikistan, trained in Afghanistan, are believed to be in the US. 

Mishra further alleged that “IS-KP may have exploited abandoned US military assets in Afghanistan, including dogs, to develop undetectable explosive vests.” 

He noted, “The high-profile arrest of an IS-KP spokesperson in Pakistan underscores the group’s continued presence and its commitment to expanding international attacks.” 

Mishra also claimed that IS-KP is among more than a dozen terrorist groups that acquired or were sold US weapons following the withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

He urged that US policy must view Afghanistan as a strategic proxy arena while ISIS-K remains a threat capable of surpassing previous massacres. 

Farzana Shah, a Peshawar-based security and defense analyst who specializes in studying regional militant groups and their evolving tactics, told The Media Line that “Azzam’s arrest should have triggered a Washington policy recalibration, yet it highlights continued US complacency toward Afghanistan’s terrorist resurgence.” 

She noted that “his capture by Pakistan’s intelligence services highlights a widening disconnect, as regional actors are responding to the Afghan-based threat with urgency, while US policymakers continue to treat it as a residual or manageable risk.” 

Farzana underlined that “Azzam was not a peripheral figure; he was a senior IS-KP commander, a US-designated global terrorist, and directly linked to the Kabul airport suicide bombing that killed 13 American service members.” 

She added that Afghanistan has become a convergence hub for al-Qaida, IS-KP, TTP and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), exploiting a permissive security environment and former military infrastructure for training, recruitment and suicide bomber indoctrination. 

Farzana emphasized that this is not a localized or temporary challenge; it is the early stage of a renewed transnational threat cycle. 

Farzana warned that ignoring al-Qaida’s rebuilding and IS-KP’s growing ambitions for short-term political convenience risks repeating pre-9/11 mistakes, with consequences for the US, its allies and Israel. 

Steven Radil, a Colorado-based conflict and security analyst, told The Media Line that “the current US government has been quite open about its intent to distance itself from security engagements of this nature.” 

Radil emphasized that the recently published US National Security Strategy of 2025 states the US will act to protect its “core national interests,” while noting that the security concerns of other countries—even allies—may not meet that threshold. 

He noted that, accordingly, neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan is mentioned in the document as a potential ally, rival, or country with tangible US interests. 

Radil added that IS-KP and other Islamic State offshoots are also not listed as key threats to US interests, despite IS-KP’s role in the calamitous US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. 

At the same time, he stressed that this strategy expects others to lead regional counter-extremism while showing skepticism toward “intrusive transnational organizations,” likely a reference to the United Nations. 

However, Radil noted, this policy shift does not rule out direct action in situations US leaders consider within their core national interests, nor does it preclude more passive engagement, such as selective intelligence sharing. 

Akmal Muzaffarov, a Tashkent-based political and security analyst, told The Media Line that “since the start of the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict, the global political situation has become significantly more complex, and it appears that influential countries, including the United States, have more pressing concerns than IS-KP in Afghanistan.” 

He underlined that “at the same time, IS-KP’s operational activity has also noticeably declined. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the reasons for this decline in activity—whether this is a temporary tactical retreat or whether the group has truly lost its capabilities.” 

Muzaffarov added that “Central Asian states have also continued to adopt political and security measures, including arrangements with the Taliban, to safeguard their borders and internal stability.” 

He also highlighted China’s role, noting that Beijing has exerted sustained pressure on Afghan and Pakistani authorities to counter IS-KP in order to protect its regional investments. 

Muzaffarov emphasized, “A key question remains why IS-KP has weakened. Unlike in Syria and Iraq, its decline in Afghanistan was not driven by large-scale military operations,” adding that “this difference requires closer study to shape more effective and lasting counterterrorism strategies.”