A former senior Islamic State leader has publicly acknowledged that the terrorist organization was, and may still be, financed by Pakistan. Sheikh Abdul Rahim Muslimdost was interviewed by the pro-Taliban media outlet “al-Mersaad.”
Until 2015, when he dissociated himself from the organization, Muslimdost was a prominent member of the Islamic State—Khorasan Province, the branch of the Islamic State (Dahesh) active in Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Myanmar. In fact, he had been one of its founders.
In the interview, aired last week and circulated on Twitter by the respected Afghanistan Analysts Network, Muslimdost explained that “he was not the first Afghan who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in late 2014, but Mawlana Idris from Helmand, who graduated from Islamic Studies in Madina, was the first.”
About how the Islamic State—Khorasan Province was financed, Muslimdost claimed that it received money both from the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and from Pakistan. It also supported itself by kidnapping victims for ransoms in various countries. Muslimdost believes that financing from Pakistan has continued to this day.
Muslimdost was asked in the interview how the fact that the Islamic State—Khorasan Province receives money from Pakistan may be compatible with the fact that the terrorist group attacked the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul on December 9, 2022. He answered that it was a false attack, “theater” aimed precisely at denying rumors that the group was supported by Pakistan.
“The PAK embassy attack in Kabul was just a #Drama. Nothing happened to the ambassador. Just a bodyguard was injured,” Muslimdost said.
Just how damning Muslimdost’s revelations are for Pakistan may not be immediately obvious to Western readers. The Islamic State—Khorasan Province, among its many nefarious activities, has killed dozens of devotees of Pakistan’s religious minorities inside the territory of Pakistan. If what Muslimdost says is true, it appears that Pakistani citizens are killed in Pakistan by terrorists funded by money of Pakistan’s taxpayers, including the victims themselves.
(The story was published on BitterWinter.org on March 3, 2023 and has been reproduced here with permission.)
