The strategy of attracting and assimilating the Khorasan branch of ISIS and the role of foreign fighters!

Although the first generation of the Khorasan branch of ISIS was small and limited in number, over time and through various stages and strategies; it expanded its ranks and increased the number of its forces. The methods and tricks of attracting people to the ranks of ISIS have been the secret of the survival and durability of this group, which has kept the ISIS machine moving to this day.

 

In this analysis, the various dimensions of attracting and assimilating this group, deceptive methods, misconceptions and factors that attract a large number of young people to this murderous group; are discussed and examined.

 

At the beginning of the emergence of the Khorasan branch of ISIS, the human resources of this group relied on two parts:

The first part included people who were outcasts from society and jihadist ranks in Afghanistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Waziristan; people with extremist and corrupt backgrounds, whom the ISIS group found suitable candidates for its activities; they played a role in the establishment of the Khorasan branch.

These people were the first generation of the Khorasan branch of ISIS who created the ugly phenomenon of ISIS in the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 

The second part, which played the role of fuel for the activities of the Khorasan branch, was broader than the first part and included different groups: foreign extremist immigrants who were already living in Waziristan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, young people with extremist thoughts, various complexes, and criminal records, and those who were looking for free women, privileges, and glory.

The existence of this unfortunate and criminal class, who were given permission to foreign extremist thinking; It caused the houses, properties and dignity of Muslims to be looted in the areas under ISIS control as booty. In addition, some young people who were deceived by ISIS’s seemingly Islamic face and thought that this group was really trying to defend the nation and a sacred cause; also joined the Khorasan branch of ISIS from different countries in the region and the world, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 

In addition to the two aforementioned sections that were the initial human resources and founders of the Khorasan branch; this group has also used other strategies to recruit, some of which are still being carried out with great skill. ISIS’s terrible and unforgivable crimes, especially in the eastern regions of the country during the occupation; caused social hatred of this group to rise and the willingness of the Afghan people to voluntarily join them reached zero.

ISIS’s recruitment and propaganda department, with high skill and using complex and combined methods, accelerated the process of recruiting new people. They practically infiltrated their people into educational centers, religious schools, and universities, and through them, through trickery and deception, presented concepts such as monotheism, the desire for an Islamic state, and the oppression of the nation in beautiful formats to the youth in order to change their mentality, promote foreign extremist thinking, and strengthen their ranks.

In this process, a new generation of ISIS members was also recruited; but the deep differences between their words and actions, the widespread crimes against Muslims, the removal of their propaganda networks from educational centers, and the reduction of their influence; slowed the recruitment process and largely destroyed its priority and effect.

 

In addition, recruiting foreigners and the presence of foreign fighters has been considered an important strategy for the Khorasan branch from the very beginning. However, after the failure and reduction in the impact of previous strategies, the greatest focus is now on recruiting foreigners. The Khorasan branch's recruitment and psychological warfare specialists, with high skill and in various ways, target people in foreign countries who, for various reasons, are likely to join ISIS.

 

In this context, people who have been religiously oppressed by governments or have been deprived of their religious freedom and have a mentality of revenge or rebellion, as well as Central Asian countries that have witnessed the hateful policies of anti-Islamism, colonialism and tyranny for several decades, have severely removed Islam from the arena of life and government, and have even banned the new generation of Muslims from following the religion until the age of eighteen; are a priority for ISIS in calling and propaganda.

 

In addition, the people of these regions face extreme poverty and Muslim youth are looking for a way to escape and be freed, which ISIS exploits.

 

Through skillful and deceptive propaganda, ISIS introduces itself to these youth as a powerful supporter of Muslims and, by displaying false power, instills in them that it has the power to restore the greatness and glory of the condemned Muslims and makes them feel that joining ISIS is a simple and effective way to achieve freedom and power.

Then, through social media and other methods, it identifies and communicates with the youth who have been affected. Once it is sure that the person is mentally attracted, it calls him to its areas of activity, where it brainwashes him with Islamic and seemingly holy concepts by working more on his mind and thought.

To the point where he loses the ability to distinguish good from evil and friend from enemy and literally becomes a blind and ruthless killer, then it uses him in its unjust and brutal war and prepares him to commit any crime with a deceptive motive.