A recent suicide attack carried out by the ISIS in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad has killed 19 people (mostly religious minorities).
Islamic State’s growing presence in the country can undo Kabul’s peace moves with Taliban and other insurgents.
What is the context of the recent blast?
ISIS - The IS set up its Afghan affiliate as a South Asian outpost when its so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria came under strain in 2016.
Afghanistan proved to be a relatively easier terrain for the IS to recruit fighters from and occupy turf due to its deserted and remote topography.
When the government and the Taliban were fighting each other, the IS built a network in eastern Afghanistan and started targeting minorities.
Most of its previous attacks were aimed at the Shia minority, the present one was targeted at Sikhs and Hindus.
Attack - Afghanistan has a small Sikh and Hindu population totalling to about 10,000, who live concentrated in cities like Kabul and Jalalabad.
A bus ferrying a group of Sikhs and Hindus, who were heading to meet the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, was attacked in Jalalabad by the IS.
The attack killed the only Sikh candidate running for upcoming elections, which speaks volumes on the current plight of minorities in Afghanistan.
How is the overall political situation in Afghanistan?
Backdrop - The Afghani government has been trying to pilot a peace initiative with all the armed groups in the country in recent times.
Taliban, which is the strongest armed group, has been responding positively although it has refused to drop arms for now.
Significantly, in the run-up to Id last month, the government had announced a unilateral ceasefire, which drew a truce from the Taliban.
Challenge - The government’s effort to reign in armed groups faces its most formidable challenge in the eastern provinces due to the rise of IS.
The IS, as per its worldwide stand of not engaging with any government has refused to respond to Afghan government’s outreach.
Contrarily, it has been increasingly attacking schools and other targets, claiming it as a response to U.S. and Afghani military operations against it.
How does the future look?
Afghanistan is struck up in an overstretched civil strife for about 4 decades now, right from the days of Soviet invasion in the 1980s.
The war with Taliban, which controls almost of half of the country’s territory, has presently reached a stalemate and peace is being explored.
In this context, the rise of IS might disturb the present fragile truce and force the country back to total chaos.
While the U.S. and Afghani forces are stepping up the offensive in the eastern provinces, the lethal potency of IS only seems to be growing.
