A series of occasional armed skirmishes and firefights have occurred along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border between the Afghan Armed Forces and the Pakistan Armed Forces since 1949. The latest round of hostilities between the two countries began in April 2007. Militants belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar also use Afghanistan's territory to target Pakistani security personnel deployed along the border. The Diplomat says that the presence of terrorists belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan on Afghan soil is the reason for sporadic shelling of Afghanistan's territory by Pakistani security forces.
Omar Khalid Khorasani was a Pakistani militant and one of the founding members of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In 2014, he formed his own splinter militant group called Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) and was ousted by the Mullah Fazlullah-led Taliban. The same year, JuA swore allegiance to Islamic State (ISIS), however, a year later JuA rejoined TTP.
Many states began to intervene against the Islamic State, in both the Syrian civil war and the War in Iraq (2013–2017), in response to its rapid territorial gains from its 2014 Northern Iraq offensives, universally condemned executions, human rights abuses and the fear of further spillovers of the Syrian Civil War. These efforts are called the war against the Islamic State (ISIS), or the International military intervention against Islamic State (ISIS). In later years, there were also minor interventions by some states against IS-affiliated groups in Nigeria and Libya. All these efforts significantly degraded the Islamic State's capabilities by around 2019–2020. While moderate fighting continues in Syria, as of 2024, ISIS has been contained to a manageably small area and force capability.
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in Afghanistan.
The Islamic State – Khorasan Province is a regional branch of the Salafi jihadist group Islamic State (IS) active in South-Central Asia, primarily Afghanistan and Pakistan. ISIS–K seeks to destabilize and replace current governments within the historic Khorasan region with the goal of establishing a caliphate across South and Central Asia, governed under a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law, which they plan to expand beyond the region.
The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Afghanistan.
The Nangarhar offensive was a 21-day military offensive in February and March 2016, carried out by the Afghan government against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (ISIS–K), with the assistance of ISAF and U.S airstrikes. When the offensive ended, ISIS had reportedly lost all of its territory in Afghanistan and had been expelled from the country.
Hafiz Saeed Khan, also known as Mullah Saeed Orakzai, Shaykh Hafidh Sa'id Khan, or Maulvi Saeed Khan, was an Islamic militant and emir for the militant group Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISIS–K) from January 2015 until his death in July 2016. Prior to 2015, Khan fought alongside the Afghan Taliban against NATO forces in Afghanistan, joined the militant group Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as a senior commander, and later swore allegiance to ISIS caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, established ISIS–K in Afghanistan as the province's first emir until his death in a reported American drone strike.
Sheikh Maqbool Orakzai, known as Shahidullah Shahid and later as Abu Umar Maqbool al Khurasani, was a Pakistani Islamic militant who had senior roles in both the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Islamic State's province in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Events in the year 2017 in Afghanistan.
Abu ‘Umayr ‘Abd al-Hasib al-Logari or Abdul Haseeb Logari was a Pakistani Islamic militant who led the Islamic State – Khorasan Province from July 2016 until his death on 27 April 2017.
Events in the year 2018 in Afghanistan.
Events from the year 2019 in Afghanistan.
In the late hours of April 26, 2017, United States and Afghan special operations forces conducted an operation targeting an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - Khorasan Province (ISIL-KP) compound in Achin District, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. The operation lasted into the early morning hours of the 27th and resulted in the deaths of two US Army Rangers from C and D Companies of the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, and the death of Abdul Haseeb Logari, the leader of ISIL-KP, alongside several leaders, and up to 35 other militants according to The Pentagon.
This article summarizes the history of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021).
The Islamic State–Taliban conflict is an ongoing insurgency by the Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-KP) against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The conflict initially began when both operated as rival insurgent groups in Nangarhar; since the formation of the Taliban's state in 2021, IS-KP members have enacted a campaign of terrorism targeting both civilians and assassinating Taliban members using hit-and-run tactics. The group have also caused incidents and attacks across the border in Pakistan.
Events in the year 2020 in Afghanistan.
In May 2020, a series of insurgent attacks took place in Afghanistan, starting when the Taliban killed 20 Afghan soldiers and wounded 29 others in Zari, Balkh and Grishk, Helmand on 1 and 3 May, respectively. On 12 May, a hospital's maternity ward in Kabul and a funeral in Kuz Kunar (Khewa), Nangarhar were attacked, resulting in the deaths of 56 people and injuries of 148 others, including newborn babies, mothers, nurses, and mourners. ISIL–KP claimed responsibility for the funeral bombing, but no insurgent group claimed responsibility for the hospital shooting.
On 16 April 2022, the Pakistani military conducted predawn airstrikes on multiple targets in Afghanistan's Khost and Kunar provinces. Afghan officials said the attacks killed at least 47 civilians and injured 23 others. Initial reports described the attacks as either rocket strikes or aerial strikes carried out by a number of aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force, and Afghan officials claimed the operation was carried out by Pakistani military helicopters and jets. Pakistani officials initially denied Pakistan carried out the airstrikes, but Pakistani security officials later claimed the airstrikes involved drone strikes from inside Pakistani airspace, and that no aircraft were deployed. Some reports said the Pakistani airstrikes also targeted parts of Paktika Province.
