Militants disguised as medics stormed the Sardar Daud Khan Hospital in Kabul on March 8, killing at least 35 people and wounding dozens. Through its Amaq News Agency, Daesh claimed responsibility for the deadly assault on the 40-bed military hospital, like reported by thenews.com.pk.

Though mostly contained by American airstrikes, the militant group seems to be steadily gaining more ungoverned territories in conflict-torn eastern Afghanistan. This was not the first attack claimed by the group. Daesh previously carried out a string of attacks in Afghanistan in a bid to attract more fighters towards its militant fold. In January 2016, Daesh organised an attack on the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad. Moreover, the militant outfit rushed to claim responsibility for the twin suicide bombings at a protest march in Kabul in July 2016, killing around 80 people.

The first signs of Daesh’s presence in Afghanistan appeared in some provinces in the south and east of the country, including cities like Kabul and Jalalabad in 2014. The group’s early successes in Syria and Iraq gravitated some regional militant groups toward its terror bandwagon in Afghanistan. In 2014, the Al-Tawhid Brigade, the Ansar-ul-Khilafat Wal-Jihad and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) splinter group Jundullah pledged allegiance to Daesh in Afghanistan.

When a former TTP commander of Orakzai Agency in Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed Khan, became the leader of Daesh in Afghanistan, he heavily relied on his established militant networks to recruit in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces such as Kunar and Nangarhar. A large number of TTP militants had settled in these provinces owing to Pakistan’s counterterrorism operation, Zarb-e-Azb. Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim, Hafiz Saeed’s deputy, ran an indoctrination and recruitment campaign for Daesh in the southern province.

After observing Daesh’s anti-Taliban ideology, Usman Ghazi, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), pledged allegiance to the militant group and offered his full force to fiercely fight against the Afghan Taliban. What is intriguing to note is that Daesh has persuaded the IMU and defectors of the TTP in Afghanistan by providing them laptops, pickup trucks and sufficient funds to support their families.

According to an estimate by the Royal United Service Institute (RUSI), Daesh boasts about 7,000 and 8,500 elements in Afghanistan, counting both fighters and support elements. Threateningly, General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, recently said that around 7o percent of Daesh’s fighters in Afghanistan comprise former disgruntled members of the hibernating TTP. This ominous development should serve as a clarion call for the government of Pakistan.

Afghanistan has, by far, proved a fertile ground for Daesh to cultivate its terror and militancy. First, the group has capitalised on the country’s lingering bad governance and weak institutions to increase its influence in the country. The indifferent attitude of the Afghan government towards the creeping expansion of Daesh has immensely helped the terror group to augment its sway in the country.

Second, when Daesh was being established in Afghanistan, the Afghan National Army (ANA) was unable to nip the terror outfit in the bud. Even today, due to the lack of professionalism, quality training and equipment, the Afghan security forces are largely incapable of flushing Daesh out of the country. Internal corruption and the massive politicisation of the Afghan security forces have helped Daesh’s fighters penetrate into these ill-organised forces and gather intelligence for terrorist attacks.

Third, the rivalry of some countries over Afghan and Central Asian mineral and energy resources has facilitated Daesh to covertly increase its tentacles in Afghanistan. Russia, China and Iran are clandestinely supporting the Afghan Taliban against Daesh with the intent to prevent the militant group from expanding its reign of terror in the region. Pakistan and India are also engaged in a proxy war in Afghanistan to carve out their ‘special sphere of influence’.

Though the US has been conducting airstrikes against Daesh in Afghanistan, Uncle Sam may be secretly supporting some disillusioned Daesh fighters so that they will be employed to create mounting security issues for Russia in Central Asia and China in Xinjiang. What should not be forgotten is that the major US objective of overstaying in Afghanistan is also geared towards containing China’s economic rise and asserting Russia’s influence in the region – by hook or by crook.

Last, Afghanistan’s entrenched jihadi culture, the ethnic divide among the Afghans and the prevalence of religious radicalism have been greatly supportive of Daesh’s slow rise in the terror-stricken country. This has presumably saved the militant group’s time and resources from indoctrinating and training its recruits.

However, due to its extremely violent strategy, Daesh seems to be facing some hurdles in terms of expanding its militancy and influence in Afghanistan. So far, most of the Afghans have displayed outright unwillingness to join the militant group because of its disrespect for Afghan history and its policy of extreme callousness. For instance, on account of alleged link with the Taliban, Daesh massacred 10 elders from Achin district in Nangarhar by forcing them to sit on explosives in 2016.

The militant group is also confronted with an increasingly bloody battle unleashed by the resurgent Afghan Taliban. To maintain their monopoly in Afghan insurgency, the Taliban have reportedly raised a special force of 1,000 well-trained and lethally-equipped fighters to impede Daesh’s expansion in Afghanistan. Due to bloody clashes, both sides have lost hundreds of insurgents in terror-infested Afghan provinces of Nangarhar, Helmand, Farah and Zabul.

To inhibit Daesh from gaining more grounds in Afghanistan, the US has continued to conduct airstrikes against the militant outfit in some provinces of Afghanistan. US drone attacks have flushed out a large number of Daesh’s fighters from their established hotbeds in eastern Afghanistan. The militant group has now confined itself to Zabul, Faryab, Helmand, Ghazni, Kunduz and Nuristan. But it is exerting some hectic efforts to expand its tentacles in far-flung areas such as Jalalabad and Kunar.

The war against Daesh in Afghanistan cannot be won without effective cooperation amongst some regional countries. Pakistan, India, China, Russia and Iran need to coordinate with the Afghan government and enhance the declining capacity and capability of the Afghan security forces so that they can carry the day against Daesh.

The Taliban have captured a key district in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, officials said according to belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Meanwhile, in the country’s north, an officer turned his rifle on sleeping colleagues, killing nine policemen.

The fall of Sangin district, once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and US troops in Afghanistan, comes amid the insurgents’ year-long push to expand their footprint in the Taliban heartland of Helmand.

Since the withdrawal of foreign Nato combat troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, and with only a smaller, US-led advice and training mission left behind, Sangin has been seen as a major tests of whether Afghan security forces can hold off advancing Taliban fighters.

The district’s police chief, Mohammad Rasoul, said the Taliban overran Sangin centre early on Thursday morning.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi also issued a statement claiming the Taliban capture of Sangin.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Mr Rasoul said the district headquarters had been poorly protected and that at the time of the Taliban siege only eight policemen and 30 Afghan soldiers were on duty.

Afghan security forces were now amassing nearby for a full-scale counter-attack in a bid to retake Sangin, he added, though he did not say when the assault would occur and how many forces would be involved.

“We are preparing our reinforcements to recapture the district,” he said.

It was not immediately clear whether the Afghan military would seek the help of international coalition forces in the area.

In Kabul, a politician from Sangin, Mohammad Hashim Alokzai, urged the military to move quickly to retake the district, saying its fall could have devastating consequences for Helmand, where the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah has in the past months also come under constant and heavy attack by the Taliban.

In northern Kunduz province, police spokesman Mafuz Akbari said the insider attack on Thursday that claimed the lives on nine policemen took place at a security post and that the assailant escaped under the cover of darkness.

Afghanistan has seen a surge in so-called insider attacks. In such incidents, attackers who turn their rifles and kill colleagues usually end up stealing their weapons and fleeing the scene to join insurgents.

Mr Akbari said the assailant had gone over to the Taliban. He also claimed that the attacker and the Taliban gathered the bodies of the dead policemen and set them on fire.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack, but denied that a policeman had been involved or that the Taliban had burned the officers’ bodies.

The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. The region is remote and not accessible to reporters.

Afghan forces have come under intensified pressure by insurgents in both Helmand and Kunduz.

Pakistan’s military says troops have clashed with militants during a raid in a tribal region near the Afghan border, with two soldiers and five “terrorists” killed, like reported by ap.org.

It says a local Pakistani Taliban commander was among those killed in Wednesday’s raid in the Orakzai tribal region.

Pakistan stepped up operations against militants following a series of attacks last month that killed at least 125 people. It also closed its border with Afghanistan for more than a month, accusing Kabul of failing to crack down on militants.

Pakistan is set to mark Republic Day on Thursday, with a military parade in which nuclear-capable weapons, tanks, jets and drones will be displayed in the capital, Islamabad.

Beijing plans to expand its influence across the Middle East and other Muslim-majority regions in response to a propaganda video purportedly showing Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL)-linked jihadists threatening to attack China, Voice of America (VOA) has learned from some analysts, like reported by breitbart.com 

The report comes in the same month that Chinese officials vowed to crack down on the growing threat that Islamic extremism poses to their country, condemning “jihad, terror, and violence.” The Islamic State has particularly recruited among the Chinese Uighur minority group.

China’s largest province, Xinjiang, borders war-ravaged Afghanistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The autonomous province is home to the country’s greatest concentration of Muslim-majority Uyghurs, or Uighurs, a minority group often described by human rights groups as oppressed by Beijing. China denies the allegations.

“This year at least two potential attacks so far and a number of other odd incidents taking place,” Raffaello Pantucci, an analyst from Britain’s Royal United Services Institute, told VOA. “And we’ve seen the governor in Xinjiang province actually having a very heavy clampdown and a very visible escalation of the security presence in the region, all of which suggests that China is increasingly concerned about the problems related to terrorism and extremism, and clearly IS is part of that picture.”

“China wants support from Western states on its policies in Xinjiang. China considers that the anti-terror efforts that it is leading in Xinjiang are not being endorsed by countries in the West and the response in Europe at least is that there is a lack of transparency,” added Mathieu Duchatel of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

“China has a category which it calls the three evils. Terrorism, extremism and separatism are put together in the same basket,” Duchatel also told VOA.

In late February, the ISIS terrorist group released a propaganda video featuring members of the Uighur Muslim minority vowing to carry out attacks on Chinese soil.

“Soon the black flag of Tawhid [Unity of Allah] will be hanging in the capital cities of the United States, Russia, and China,” declares a Chinese Uyghur jihadist in the ISIS video.

“Oh, you Chinese, who do not understand what people say! We are the soldiers of Allah, will make you understand Islam with the tongues of our weapons. We will come to you to shed blood like rivers and avenge the oppressed,” he adds before beheading a prisoner dressed in red, a color traditionally linked with communism.

ISIS has threatened China in the past.

In January 2016, the jihadist organization noted in its online propaganda magazine Dabiq that the presence of “atheist Chinese” near China’s border with Afghanistan represents an impediment to their terrorist goals.

ISIS highlighted the strategic importance of the central Asian region, identified as “Khorasan,” to their international jihad.

The Sunni terrorist group established a wing in the Af-Pak area at the beginning of 2015.

ISIS named its central Asian offshoot “Khorasan,” an ancient name for a region that covers Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other neighboring countries.

China has deployed ground military troops to Afghanistan and maintains a close relationship with Pakistan.

“Islamic State may be a common enemy, but there has been little coordination between China and the global coalition fighting the group,” indicated Duchatel.

“China adopted a law in 2015 allowing military deployment overseas on anti-terror missions. But Duchatel says working alongside Western or Russian forces against Islamic State remains unlikely,” points out VOA.

Besides ISIS, the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), an al-Qaeda-linked group mainly made up of ethnic Uighurs, also poses a threat to China.

The al-Qaeda linked group has advertised its training camps in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area, according to the Long War Journal (LWJ).

Taking a page from its rival ISIS’s playbook, TIP also released a video in late February calling on ISIS-affiliated jihadists from China’s Uighur minority to attack the communist country.

Bangladesh’s anti-crime elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Tuesday arrested five members of a banned militant outfit in capital Dhaka, like reported by xinhuanet.com.

A RAB spokesperson who did not like to be named said the militants are the members of Neo-JMB (an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh) blamed for the deadly attack on the Spanish cafe in Dhaka’s diplomatic enclave Gulshan on July 1, 2016.

He said the arrests were made during raids in places of capital Dhaka Tuesday.

A mobile text message from RAB said two among the arrested militants are engineers.

It said a stash of religious books and bomb making materials were recovered from their possession.

However, the official said the militants also belonged to the “Tamim Chowdhury-Sarwar Jahan group” of Neo-JMB.

Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-Canadian and Sarwar Jahan, identified as Neo JMB chief who was killed during a police raid on Oct. 8, have been blamed as the masterminds of the brutal attack on the Spanish cafe that left 20 hostages including 18 foreigners dead.

Bangladeshi police have hunted down and killed scores of militants linked to the cafe attack, including Tamim Chowdhury who was killed in a police raid on Aug. 27.

The Kabul government Sunday backed U.S. calls for more foreign soldiers in Afghanistan as the armed rebels continue their strategy of waiting out foreign troops, like reported by aa.com.tr .

Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani called the terrorist activities a serious threat to the stability of Afghanistan, adding that the terrorists’ sanctuaries lie outside the country.

Speaking before leaving for the U.S., where he is set to take part in the Meeting of the Ministers of the Global Coalition to Counter Daesh, Rabbani said additional troops would help improve the security situation.

Gen. John W. Nicholson, commander of the U.S.-led international military force in Afghanistan, last month said “a few thousand” more troops are needed to more effectively train and advise Afghan soldiers.

There are an estimated 13,300 foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan, 8,400 of them American. Except for the Americans — who can pursue terrorists if and when Afghan forces request it — the rest have been busy in the advise, train, and assist mission since 2015.

Rabbani added he would have detailed and focused talks with allies in Washington about the Afghan government’s achievements and shortcomings in anti-terrorism operations.

Asked about Russia’s alleged ties with the Taliban, he said Moscow has assured Kabul that its “contacts” were aimed only at persuading the insurgent group to endorse peace talks with the Afghan government.

The word “jongi” is now a part of our everyday vocabulary. Post Holey Artisan, Bangladesh has experienced a wide variety of unease, like reported by dhakatribune.com.

However, just when foreigners in Bangladesh were beginning to venture outside and security restrictions by many multi-nationals were beginning to relax a little, we had two incidents where, apparently, lone wolf radicals tried to carry out attacks within the RAB headquarters.

Reportedly, one detonated a suicide vest which wounded men in uniform. The authority has declared that any militant outfit or activity will be dealt with a strong hand, and, so far, we have seen quite a few operations which claimed to have thwarted radical plans to disrupt social harmony.

Now, as a journalist who has worked, and still works, in international development, the question I often face is: How safe is Bangladesh?

Can one go out on the streets without falling directly into some radicalisation-driven mayhem? The first thing I say is, Bangladesh is no less safe than any other European country and not immune to petty crimes which affect other major cities.

Yes, there was a militant attack last year but this does not mean that anyone going out will be a target.

But of course, there is always the subconscious fear of whether we show it or not. When we talk about militants, it’s prudent to keep in mind that, tackling a group of radicals is easier than dealing with one person who isn’t sharing any of his plans.

Of course, the response from the authority has to be robust and firm, but something that a journalist from an international media house once asked me in an interview keeps coming back to me: “How do you fight an enemy who wants to die?”

Realistically speaking, the only viable way is to reach out to the young, impressionable section of society, which is usually targeted for militant indoctrination.

Giving law enforcers the latest weapons and communication tools will tackle an emergency or a subversive plot.

However, simmering resentment stemming from misconceptions or misinterpretations of religion needs to be addressed in a conciliatory way.

This means that a section of law enforcement needs to lay down the weapons and take off the menacing uniforms and sit with youngsters.

Don’t take this literally, a social media dais is just fine.

Sorry to say, in the diligently sustained colonial format of law enforcement, where instilling fear is the key, there is hardly room for police, students, and religious scholars to come to one platform to openly discuss disturbing/deviant ideas that form the root of radicalism.

This is not to denounce stern measures in any way. Of course, the approach has to be swift, and calculated, but risk-mitigating attempts need to be made to ensure the situation does not even go that far.

I am sure our law enforcers take no pleasure in gunning down derailed youngsters.

Do we have ward-level police-society interaction? What about a “police week” aimed at reaching out to the young?

The truth is, when the law enforcement agency is used as a political tool, very little progress can be expected to either curb institutional corruption or proactively engage the young on issues that feed their angst.

My fear is that since lone wolves are starting to attack, one day someone might commandeer a truck or a large construction vehicle, seen often on main roads, and carry out a horrific mowing down of people, in a replication of several incidents in Europe.

The worrying factor is the isolated person being proselytised by surfing some dubious website.

Therefore, a social media platform opening up to the young, dealing with their confusions, should also be considered along with the adoption of stringent counter-terrorism.

And this has to be done keeping aside all political considerations. Terrorism, small or big, is here, and whether it’s BNP or AL in power, this scourge will proliferate unless checked.

Sadly, at this time, we see nasty political whataboutery at play and recriminations flying from all sides, while the sole application of ruthless force cements someone’s malicious resolve in some remote corner.

Let me give a small example where political differences are set aside for judicious unity: In the UK, despite the barbs shared in parliament and the constant zealous efforts from both sides to undermine the other, on the issue of tackling radicals, there has always been a consensus.

In Bangladesh, at least on this issue, let’s see a united front, otherwise, the relentless mudslinging will only provide fertile ground for more animosity, which may, in certain cases, lead an isolated few to commit diabolical acts.

Their motive is simple: Exploit the visceral antipathy between the two major parties and destabilise Bangladesh.

Three suspected members of an Islamist militant group blamed for a deadly cafe attack in Bangladesh last July were killed on Thursday when their suicide vests exploded during a police raid on their hideout, a police official said according to reuters.com .

Police said a woman was also among the four dead, who belonged to a faction of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh group, known as New JMB, which they have linked to attacks such as that on the cafe, which killed 22 people, mostly foreigners.

New JMB has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group, which claimed responsibility for the attack on the cafe in Dhaka’s diplomatic quarter, although the government has cast doubt on that claim.

Two policemen were wounded when the militants inside a two-storey building in Chittagong, about 200 km (120 miles) southeast of Dhaka, showered at least a dozen grenades on them, police official Mohammad Moniruzzaman told Reuters.

“The operation is over,” he said. “Our intelligence and bomb disposal and forensic units are now working.”

About 20 residents trapped in the building after Wednesday night’s raid began were taken to safety before the final assault started early on Thursday, Moniruzzaman said, adding that authorities also seized live grenades and a lot of explosives.

The militants shouted “Allahu akbar” or “God is greatest” as they started attacking police commandos, said Shafiqul Islam, a senior police official in Chittagong.

“They were wearing suicide vests which exploded,” he told Reuters, referring to the three men who died. “We are not sure whether they detonated the vests themselves, or they exploded after being hit by bullets. The woman was shot by us.”

The dead had yet to be identified because their bodies had been reduced to fragments, he added.

“We suspect the militants might have had plans to attack foreigners in the city,” he said, but did not elaborate.

Al Qaeda and Islamic State have made competing claims over a recent spate of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in Bangladesh, a mostly Muslim country of 160 million people.

Authorities have consistently ruled out the presence of such transnational groups, blaming domestic militants instead, though security experts say the scale and sophistication of the cafe attack suggested links to a transnational network.

Police have killed more than 50 suspected militants in shootouts since the cafe attack, including the man they say was its main planner, Bangladesh-born Canadian citizen Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury.

An explosives expert of Jundullah terrorist group was arrested along with a key Taliban commander in northern Samangan province of Afghanistan, like reported by khaama.com.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said the two militant leaders were arrested during the counter-terrorism operations.

The Jundullah explosives expert was involved in manufacturing Improvised Explosive Device to carry out roadside bombings in this province, MoI said, adding that an Ak-47 rifle was also confiscated from him together with a motorcycle.

According to MoI, the Taliban leader arrested during the operation has been identified as Esmatullah who was also famous as Jalali and was leading a group consisting twenty insurgents.

He was held during an operation conducted in the vicinity of Hazrat Sultan district, the ministry added.

The anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the reports so far.

Samangan has been among the relatively calm provinces since the fall of the Taliban regime in northern Afghanistan but the anti-government armed militant groups have increased their presence and insurgency activities in some of its district as they continue to attempt in spreading violence in northern provinces of the country.