Since America’s disastrous scuttle from Kabul in August 2021, there had been rising concern that Afghanistan would once again become a crucible of international terrorism. The claim by the Islamic State group to have carried out the Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow appears to have justified that fear.
An Islamic prophecy says that when the Mahdi, the messiah, returns to herald the end of the world, he will come bearing black flags in the land of Khorasan
The four gunmen – who are said to have walked casually as they fired into the crowds, leaving more than 130 people dead – were citizens of Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan to the north.
After their defeat in Syria and Iraq, Afghanistan is now Islamic State’s main base, and hundreds of Central Asian fighters have returned to regroup and train there. Intelligence sources say that Tajiks can easily pass in the northeast of Afghanistan as locals, since the people of the region are Afghan Tajiks.
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