When the Taliban movement finally took control of Afghanistan in August, it had already spread its influence across much of the country. In doing so, it had struck uneasy alliances with al-Qaida groups but remained bitterly opposed by ISIS-K (Islamic State Khorasan Province, the official affiliate of ISIS in Afghanistan). An indication of ISIS-K’s power came with the devastating bombing at Kabul airport towards the end of the chaotic evacuation, killing more than a hundred people.
Since the Taliban takeover, ISIS-K has continued to be a serious problem, having been responsible for further bombing attacks in Afghan cities. But, away from Afghanistan, more attention has recently been focused on the wider jihadist movements in the Sahel region of the Sahara as well as to the south-east, into the Democratic Republic of the Congo near the Ugandan border, and, further away, in the Capo Delgado Province in Mozambique.
In the Sahel itself, ISIS followers went as far as assassinating the leader of the Nigerian Boko Haram earlier this year, in efforts to take control of the movement. Meanwhile paramilitary activity has steadily increased in Mali, especially around the tri-state border that the country shares with Burkina Faso and Niger.
