Afghanistan and Iran have reiterated their vow to join hands in fighting the menace of ISIS in the region. The Head Consul of Iran in Herat said that the heads of border security forces of both the countries held a number of meetings in last 20 days to improve the vigilance on both sides of border to detect the activities of ISIS in the area. Mr. Afkhami, the Head Consul, said that both the countries will keep in close contact to tackle the emergence of ISIS in the area. He further stated that ISIS has emerged as the joint enemy of both the countries and they will do their best to tackle this joint enemy.

This joint meetings and the statement came after it was reported that some militants were seen in the Farah province carrying the flags of ISIS. This Afghan province shares its border with Iran. The news also came in media that ISIS also appointed Abdur-Raheem Muslim Dost as the chief of ISIS for the region of Khurasan (as was Afghanistan and Iran jointly called in history). Afghan media is also giving the news of increasing influence and activities of ISIS in a number of regions of Afghanistan. There are reports that ISIS has started large number of hiring in some provinces of Afghanistan like Kunar and Paktika. In the same way, the social networking sites are also full of pictures and news showing the members of ISIS in a number of the cities of Afghanistan. Whatever may be the truths about the presence of ISIS in any part of our country, the name of ISIS has started circulating much briskly in our media and the coming time will decide if this strategy was going to be in favor or against the overall security and solidarity of the country.

However, Afghan security forces have till now denied the presence of ISIS in any part of the country. They remark that some factors in our country are using the name of ISIS for their own benefits and mostly to spread panic among the general public. Our forces have repeatedly said that they will strictly deal in case ISIS tried to emerge in any part of the country. Our political and geopolitical experts also agree that emergence of ISIS in Afghanistan is next to impossible and the present wave of rumors is just to create panic and terror in public.

The above claims also seem reasonable as it would be almost impossible for ISIS to extend their activities in a country that is thousands of miles away from the places of their influence and on the way, there is present the hard-core Iran that would try its best to stop the expansion of ISIS in any part of the country. In the same way, majority of people in Afghanistan are against ISIS and in general, it is considered an organization that has no objective except to bring destruction on general public. In this regard, it is also different from Taliban that enjoys some support in the rural areas of the country and it is not considered as cruel as ISIS. The increasing news of the cruelties of ISIS in Syria and Iraq has resulted in a general perception that no country is safe from this evil organization and it becomes the responsibility of all to stop their expansion.

Unfortunately, there are also present some elements in the country that seem to be much influenced from the approach and brutality of ISIS. There are present some illiterate in our society who are dreaming of the return of Caliphate and when ISIS announced that Caliphate system has been resumed in Iraq and Syria, large number of people rejoiced in almost all the Muslim countries. Almost the same were feelings of a number of people in Afghanistan. They were not happy of the slow activeness of Taliban and according to them, Taliban were never going to be successful with their half-hearted strategy. When ISIS rapidly started conquering large number of cities in Iraq and Syria with their brutal killing and invasion, they became a role-model for some people not only in Afghanistan but also in a number of other Muslim countries.

Without considering the realities behind the emergence of ISIS in Afghanistan, it is a fact thatthere are always present dangers of the emergence of ISIS in any country that is war-torn and where people are vulnerable to such threats due to joblessness, religious extremism and others. In the same way, this large and strong evil force will be very difficult to be dealt exclusively or separately by Afghanistan in a condition that it is already facing large numbers of threats from inside and outside the country. The recent talks between the security forces of both the countries is really hopeful and it is needed that these relations should be further enhanced and not kept limited for formal talks only. Both the countries need to make even a joint task force exclusively aimed for tackling ISIS in Afghanistan and Iran. At the same time, both the countries should also be more careful and any small danger regarding ISIS should be dealt with severely and this evil should be nipped on its bud.