Fertile Ground: ISKP Recruitment in Central Asia

The world is taking notice of the threat posed by the ISKP, a group that recruits heavily from Central Asia to carry out its brutal attacks.

The ISKP relies heavily on Central Asian recruits to carry out its overseas attacks. Image source

Last August, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed it was searching for more than a dozen Uzbek nationals who sought asylum in the United States. The threat posed by the individuals was so severe that it required an emergency intelligence report to senior Biden administration officials that suggested the FBI was unaware of their exact whereabouts. The individuals in question were reportedly brought into the country by a smuggling network with links to the Islamic State (IS). There are no reports of any arrests regarding this matter to date.

In Moscow, each of the four suspects accused of carrying out the horrific March 22 attack on behalf of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) were Tajik nationals. On March 29, authorities in Tajikistan detained nine more suspects in relation to the Moscow attack. On January 11, Iranian intelligence confirmed at least one of the two suspects in the January 3 ISKP suicide attacks in Kerman was a Tajik national who entered the country via Afghanistan. These incidents and others highlight the ISKP’s ongoing efforts to recruit Central Asians – mainly nationals of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – into its ranks. This recruitment is primarily due to multiple factors in the region, including socio-economic challenges, repressive policies at home and abroad, and a lawless Afghanistan that has turned this part of the world into an attractive territory for extremist recruiters.

Map of Central Asia. Image source