United Nations, Dec 24 (PTI) The UN Security Council has imposed a slew of sanctions on senior Islamic State — Khorasan (ISIL-K) leader Sanaullah Ghafari, subjecting the 27-year-old terrorist to assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo, in the latest crackdown by the top UN body on the Islamic State’s affiliate group in Afghanistan.
Ghafari, an Afghan national, is also known as Dr. Shahab al Muhajir, Shahab Muhajer and Shahab Mahajar, is the Leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan (ISIL-K), a press release issued by the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee said.
The Security Council ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee added Ghafari to its sanctions list on December 21, subjecting him to asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, it said.
Ghafari has been the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan (ISIL-K) since June 2020 and was appointed by ISIL, the release said.
He is responsible for approving all ISIL-K operations throughout Afghanistan and arranging funding activities as well. He has masterminded terrorist attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan. As the leader of ISIL-K, he has been responsible for multiple terrorist attacks resulting in hundreds of deaths in 2021. Attack methodology includes assassinations and IED attacks, it said.
Giving the reason for listing, the Sanctions Committee said Ghafari was listed as being associated with ISIL or Al-Qaida for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of , supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to , and recruiting for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan, which was listed on May 14, 2019.
The 13th report of the Secretary-General on the threat posed by ISIL (Da’esh) to international peace and security, issued in August, had said that ISIL-K has expanded its presence in several provinces of Afghanistan, despite leadership, human and financial losses during 2020.
The group has strengthened its positions in and around Kabul, where it targets most of its attacks against minorities, civil society actors, government employees and personnel of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces, the report had said.
The 28th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team submitted pursuant to resolution 2368 (2017) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities, issued in July, had said that in its efforts to resurge, ISIL-K has prioritised the recruitment and training of new supporters.
Its leaders also hoped to attract intransigent Taliban and other militants who reject the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan between the United States of America and the Taliban and to recruit fighters from the Syrian Arab Republic, Iraq and other conflict zones, the report said.
The report said that estimates of the strength of ISIL-K range widely, with one Member State reporting between 500 and 1,500 fighters and another stating that it may rise to as many as 10,000 over the medium term.
Ghafari cooperates with Sheikh Tamim, head of the al-Sadiq office. Tamim and his office are tasked by the ISIL core team to oversee the network connecting ISIL-K with ISIL presences in the wider region, it added.