NEW DELHI: Sultan Aziz Azzam, head of the media department of ISIS-Khorasan (ISKP) and a native of Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, has over the past month held a series of consecutive meetings with Pakistani intelligence officials a process that is still allegedly ongoing, according to sources following the development.
The sources said Azzam is currently staying in a private guesthouse owned by Pakistani intelligence ISI, a type of accommodation commonly referred to as a “safe house.”
For the past two years, the ISKP leadership has been operating out of Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Afghan authorities believe that the group is being used against Afghanistan and is under the complete control of Pakistan. These meetings, therefore, carry an important message for Afghanistan and the region.
Contacts between ISKP figures and Pakistani intelligence reportedly intensified and became “fruitful” after Pakistan conducted an airstrike in Kabul on 9 October, an event that sharply escalated bilateral tensions. Azzam has now been summoned to strengthen Pakistan’s side in the ongoing negotiation and reconciliation process, the sources alleged.
Sultan Aziz Azzam is described as a well-known figure within ISIS. When the group was based in Nangarhar’s mountainous areas, Azzam headed the organisation’s Caliphate Radio and served as its principal voice, delivering commentary and messaging in all ISKP propaganda videos.
Analysts tracking regional terrorism said Azzam’s re-emergence and continued engagement with Pakistani officials further underline how ISKP remains closely coordinated with Pakistan’s military and intelligence apparatus. The group, they believe, has become one of the principal tools Islamabad is using to exert pressure on the Taliban-led government in Kabul.
