Recent international intelligence reports have illuminated a troubling alliance between the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), an affiliate of the Islamic State militant group, and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based organization long designated as a terrorist entity by the United Nations. This partnership, reportedly nurtured under the auspices of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), underscores Islamabad’s complex role in regional security dynamics, according to analysts and classified assessments.
The revelations come amid heightened concerns over Pakistan’s provision of safe havens to extremist networks in South and Central Asia. A pivotal event was the late December 2025 arrest of Mehmet Gören, a high-ranking ISKP operative, by Turkish intelligence near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Gören’s detention, detailed in these reports, has exposed layers of operational coordination between ISKP and LeT, aimed at advancing Pakistan’s strategic interests.
LeT, infamous for orchestrating the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, has historically benefited from ISI support, including funding and logistics. Evidence of Pakistan’s ties to ISKP has mounted over the years. In April 2024, Afghan authorities apprehended Tajik nationals who confessed to receiving directives to train in Quetta, Pakistan, before deployment. A video statement from Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, an ISKP founding member, alleged that ISI officers channeled financial aid to Hafiz Saeed Khan, the group’s Pakistan-born leader until his death in a 2016 drone strike. The 2020 capture of ISKP chief Aslam Farooqi, also a Pakistani national, further laid bare these connections, with a senior Afghan official describing ISKP as “essentially a demon child” of the ISI.
At a United Nations forum in March 2024, Dr. Naseem Baloch, chairman of the Baloch National Movement, asserted that ISIS training camps in Balochistan operate under Pakistani military oversight. Circulating among intelligence circles is a photograph depicting ISKP’s Balochistan coordinator, Mir Shafiq Mengal, presenting a pistol to LeT senior commander Rana Mohammad Ashfaq—a gesture symbolizing their formalized collaboration under ISI guidance.
International intelligence reports describe this nexus as serving multiple Pakistani objectives: quelling Baloch separatist insurgencies domestically, undermining elements within Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership perceived as resistant to Islamabad’s influence, and sustaining pressure on India, particularly in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir. Mengal, accused of leading a private militia against Baloch nationalists, has been instrumental since around 2015, facilitating ISKP’s funding, arms transfers, and safe houses in districts like Mastung and Khuzdar.
A setback for these operations occurred in March 2025, when Baloch armed groups overran an ISKP base in Mastung, resulting in about 30 militant deaths. In response, the ISI reportedly enlisted LeT to bolster ISKP’s capabilities. A June 2025 meeting in Balochistan, attended by Ashfaq and his deputy, Saifullah Kasuri, culminated in pledges to wage armed struggle against “anti-Pakistan” forces.
Operationally, the groups share training facilities in Balochistan for cross-border attacks. ISKP’s propaganda, including its magazine Yalgaar, has increasingly emphasized expansion into Kashmir, aligning with Pakistan’s geopolitical aims beyond mere ideological affinity.
This evolving alliance poses significant risks, experts warn, potentially destabilizing Balochistan and Afghanistan while reigniting violence in Kashmir. ISKP’s anti-American stance and access to Pakistani recruitment networks enhance its resilience, prompting questions about Pakistan’s status as a Major Non-NATO Ally and its commitment to counterterrorism efforts. As regional tensions simmer, these reports highlight the perils of proxy warfare in an already volatile landscape.
