Despite the recent drop in terrorist attacks and the number of deaths in such attacks, the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) reported on Tuesday that, for the fourth consecutive year, Afghanistan remains the country most impacted by terrorism.
The GTI, which does not include acts of state repression and violence by state actors, noted the number of terrorist attacks and deaths in Afghanistan fell by 75 percent and 58 percent, respectively, compared to 2021.
In 2022, Afghanistan recorded 633 terrorism-related fatalities, the GTI reported.
Since the Taliban took control of the Afghan government after the fall of Kabul in August 2021, the acts committed by them as state actors are no longer included in the report’s scope of the GTI’s definition of terrorism.
Following the Taliban takeover of the country, the Islamic State-Khorasan (Daesh) has emerged as the most active terrorist group in Afghanistan and accounted for almost 67 percent of the total terrorism-related deaths – they were behind 422 deaths – in the country in 2022, GTI reports.
As the report explains, the Islamic State of Khorasan exploits tensions between the Taliban, which struggles to provide adequate food supplies and maintain the economy, and the poverty-stricken Afghans to bolster their numbers.
However, there are also concerns among counter-terrorism agencies that Afghanistan could become a haven for terrorists since the Taliban may be supporting terrorist organizations, particularly al-Qaeda.
Although Kabul remains the most affected province by terrorism for the ninth consecutive year, the number of deaths there more than halved from 549 in 2021 to 217 in 2022, GTI stated, noting that terrorism was widespread last year with terrorist attacks recorded in 26 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.
There was also a significant decline in the number of suicide bombings with only seven recorded in 2022 compared to 11 suicide bombings in 2021. The total number of deaths caused by these bombings decreased by 72% from the 276 deaths recorded the previous year to 78 in 2022.
Bombings were the deadliest form of terrorist attack in Afghanistan in 2022, resulting in 434 casualties compared to 186 fatalities caused by armed attacks.
