India building contacts with ISIS, al-Qaeda in Afghanistan

By Ali Abbas Rizvi

ISLAMABAD: The Indian government is now working on building contacts with rogue groups in Afghanistan, including al-Qaeda and ISIS, reports from Afghanistan have revealed.

Earlier, the Indian intelligence had developed close relations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and used it to mount attacks on important military installations in the country besides killing civilians. While close ties of Indian intelligence with the TTP still continue, unarguably with the blessings of certain senior operatives of the Afghan intelligence, the Indians are now focusing on ISIS and al-Qaeda operatives to use them against Pakistan. 

In late 2014, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had visited Syria and Iraq on the pretext of assisting Indian External Affairs Ministry (EAM) in evacuation of stranded Indians. However, it was reported that the secret visit was used to create contacts with the leaderships of extremist groups. Meanwhile, the Indian consulate in Kandahar was utilised by the RAW for creating coordination between the TTP and ISIS elements.
Analysts say evidence is growing that while making common cause with terror groups present on the Afghan territory, the Indians are seeking to mount a new state-sponsored campaign of terror attacks in Pakistan. It is known that Narendra Modi in a speech in Bangladesh had confessed that the Indian establishment had created the Mukti Bahini in East Bengal to dismember Pakistan. The game continues with New Delhi exploiting sub-nationalists in Balochistan and Sindh.

By making use of the ISIS phenomenon in Afghanistan, RAW is also attempting to generate skepticism about the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. It has been propagated by the ISIS/Al-Khorasan elements that a nuclear device will be bought from Pakistan. 

India’s endeavours to replace the TTP with the ISIS are explicitly Pakistan, Afghanistan and China oriented. As the region is expected to witness increasing economic activities following building of the CPEC, India is desirous of countering such developments and curtailing the Chinese influence in the region with the ISIS phenomena.
TTP activists and disenchanted Taliban in Afghanistan are being lured to join the ISIS ranks, which is now called as “Al Khorasan” in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the highly successful Operation Zarb-e-Azb has greatly dented the TTP and its likes in Pakistan, eliminating scores of them and forcing others to flee to the western neighboring country.