ISKP’s Eid Message Calls for Attacks in South and Central Asia

The Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP), through its Al-Azaim Foundation propaganda wing, released a more-than-20-page booklet titled “Eid Message” mainly addressed to the group’s fighters, families, and supporters. Marking the occasion of Eid al-Adha, ISKP took the opportunity to further develop and spread a selection of its narratives about the network’s operations and vision.

ISKP states that the “kuffar and murtaddin have gathered against the Islamic State under the garment of the United Nations”. The group describes how the “groundwork is being laid for a world war” involving the US and its Western allies against Russia in Ukraine, while, at the same time, America and China feud over Taiwan, and political tensions persist inside and between India and Pakistan. ISKP sees opportunity amidst the chaos and ⁠— conflating its own views with those of the world’s larger and varied Muslim populations ⁠— says there is “hope” for “the success of the Islamic System in the near future.”

The group celebrates the June 18 attack on Kabul’s Gurdwara Karta-E-Parwan, its perpetrator Abu Muhammad at-Tajiki, and criticizes the Taliban for their inaction against the “Hindu polytheists” who “assaulted the honorable position of the Prophet”. Instead, ISKP claims, the Taliban “befriended the Rafidah pagans and the arrogant Hindu polytheists, while they begged for their aid and charity, and they begged them to open their embassy and recognize them officially”.

ISKP praised their fighters for operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as for “the Katyusha rocket attacks on the borders of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan”. They impugn the Taliban as being puppets of the US (“their American masters”), Qatar, and Pakistan, asserting that the new Afghan rulers have failed to implement Islamic rule after ten months of governance.

The Taliban is compared to the previous Afghan government in accepting tens of millions in foreign aid, adhering to international law, and “[signing] pledges with kuffar against the mujahidin of the Islamic State”. Further, ISKP scorns them for “killing Muslims”, “protecting idol worshippers”, “befriending Russians, the murderers of Chechen Muslims, and China, the murderers of Uyghur Muslims”, “handing over all airports to Qatar”, and more.

The statement concludes with a call to Muslims in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and elsewhere to act against their respective governments and other enemies present in their lands ⁠— notably urging supporters to “cast fear into the hearts of the sons of Putin and Russia, kill them with cars and knives.”