Russia’s top security official has warned that the Afghanistan-based Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-KP) is actively recruiting citizens from Central Asian countries and migrant workers in Russia into terrorist networks operating across the region.
Speaking at a meeting of security chiefs from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Director of Russia’s Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov said the group’s “Khorasan Branch” had stepped up efforts to recruit members from other extremist groups, as well as people from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
According to Russia’s state news agency TASS, Bortnikov claimed on Tuesday that clandestine terrorist networks were being established in several CIS countries, alongside logistical and financial channels intended to support future attacks.
He said Russian and Tajik security agencies had earlier this year dismantled a terrorist cell allegedly planning “high-profile attacks,” while cooperation between Russian authorities and Uzbekistan’s State Security Service helped prevent five planned terrorist attacks in different parts of Russia, including Moscow.
Bortnikov further alleged that ISIS-K, allied jihadist groups, and anti-Taliban armed factions were attempting to destabilize Afghanistan with what he described as the “active support” of British intelligence services.
He claimed these groups were seeking to expand areas outside Taliban control, particularly in northern Afghanistan, in an effort to influence security dynamics in Central Asia.
The senior Russian official stressed the importance of expanding counterterrorism cooperation with Afghan authorities, saying Moscow was working to support political stabilization in Afghanistan and improve relations between Kabul and Islamabad.
“Our common security will clearly depend on peace in the Afghan-Pakistani region,” Bortnikov said.
Russia has continued to express concerns over security risks originating from Afghanistan, even as it maintains and gradually expands political and security engagement with the Taliban authorities in recent years.
Despite Taliban assertions that the security situation has improved, ISIS-K remains active and has been linked to multiple attacks in Afghanistan, as well as incidents in Pakistan and Iran.
Both China and Russia have repeatedly cautioned that armed groups could use Afghan territory as a base to threaten wider regional stability, arguing that the Taliban leadership has yet to fully resolve these long-standing security challenges.