ISIS-K exploits poverty to recruit youth amid surge in attacks

KABUL -- The "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria"'s Khorasan branch (ISIS-K) is exploiting worsening poverty in Afghanistan to recruit new fighters and carry out attacks, analysts warn.

The extremist group has become a real threat in Afghanistan, Türkiye-based Afghan political analyst Abdul Wasi Niazi told Salaam Times.

Afghan youth are joining the group's ranks out of desperation, he said.

"Unfortunately, most Afghans are living below the poverty line," he said. "Our educated youth are unemployed, and some of them will now be forced to choose the wrong path to making a living."

As the economic situation in Afghanistan worsens, this gives ISIS and other extremist groups the opportunity to entrap youth, Niazi said.

The increase in poverty and unemployment has made it easier for ISIS recruiters, Belgium-based Afghan political analyst Ali Reza Esmati told Salaam Times.

ISIS-K's recent attacks, amid Afghanistan's political and economic uncertainty, have raised concerns that the group is expanding its recruitment campaign, posing a serious problem for the country and region, he said.

"My information indicates that several other foreign terrorist groups, including Jundallah [based in Iran], Jamaat Ansarullah of Tajikistan and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, have now joined forces with ISIS," Esmati said.

"If ISIS further increases its recruitment efforts, Afghanistan's security will be at even greater risk, and [ISIS-K] will become even stronger in the country," he warned.

'An enemy of our people'

ISIS-K has accelerated its recruitment of youth in Kunduz province in recent months, sources told Salaam Times, expressing alarm about the situation.

"It will be very painful to see our educated youth acting against our own people and destroying public infrastructure in exchange for money and resources," said Kunduz resident Murtaza Ahmadi, 41.

"If the current situation continues, we will soon witness significant and destructive activities, and ISIS will turn Afghanistan into its main base," he said.

Increasing poverty and unemployment are one factor that has made it easier for terrorist groups to recruit young Afghans today, said Badakhshan province native Abdullah Haqjo, 36, who now lives in Kabul.

"The current situation in Afghanistan has facilitated ISIS's recruitment of individuals," he said, urging the authorities to address this situation.

"ISIS is an enemy of our people and our religion," Haqjo said. "This group constantly targets civilians and poses a significant threat to the stability, security and sovereignty of Afghanistan."

"Therefore, Afghans should not be deceived by this terrorist group and should not pledge allegiance to such an enemy," he said.