The United States has offered a $ 10 million reward for any information that could "identify or locate" the leader of the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) group, Sanaullah Ghafari. As AFP reported, this reward promised by the US State Department also refers to any information that allows the arrest or conviction of those responsible for the August 26, 2021 terrorist attack at Kabul airport. The attack, claimed by IS-K, has killed at least 185 people, including 13 American soldiers, as the United States withdrew from Afghanistan and staged a large-scale evacuation operation, after the Taliban took power.
According to US diplomacy, Sanaullah Ghafari, also known as Shahab al-Muhajir, was appointed head of the IS-K in June 2020 by the Islamic State group. "Ghafari is responsible for approving all IS-K operations in Afghanistan and finding funding to organize these operations", the State Department said in a statement. He was already blacklisted as foreign terrorist in November.
Very little is known about the IS-K leader: the name Shahab al-Muhajir suggests his origin in the Arabian Peninsula as an Al Qaeda veteran or a former member of the Haqqani Network, an ultra-conservative faction, historically close to Al Qaeda. Therefore, there are several theories about Sanaullah Ghafari, but none confirmed.
IS-K was a declining organization until 2020, whose members were decimated by a series of American attacks. The arrival of the new leader in 2020 has produced a change that experts say has made IS-K more dangerous.
Since the Americans left Afghanistan in August 2021, IS-K, a rival and main opponent of the ruling Islamist movement, has targeted both the Taliban and the Shiite minority.