Indian ‘Islamic State Widows and their journey to Afghanistan
This StratNews Global Exclusive tied Indian women with MBA and engineering degrees to the world’s most bloodthirsty terrorist group. Firstly, we pieced together an account of how two groups of 60 Indians made their way from Kerala to Kabul and then Khorasan.
Editor’s Note: As a matter of fact, this report was first published in 2020. It is being republished because it has garnered over 700,000 views on May 22, 2024.
This is some of the questioning at length of the wives and widows of Indians. They left India, lived, fought and, died for the ‘Islamic State’ in Afghanistan.
From Thiruvananthapuram to Tora Bora. How Sonia Sebastian/Ayisha, Merrin Jacob/ Mariyam, Raffeala and Fathima Isa/Nimisha joined the ‘Islamic State’ terror group. This is the story of some Indian Islamic State Widows in their words. Specifically, they left India with their husbands between 2016 and 2018. And joined Daesh/ISIS or the Islamic State(Islamic State in Khorasan Province).
Infact, we also used public documents in this report. Those include National Investigation Agency (NIA)chargesheets and Interpol notices. The reports helped unravel the web that got them to Afghanistan. The Indians took three routes through several countries. For e.g. the UAE, Oman, and Iran to their final destination on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in Momand Dar, Nangarhar province
Investigations, questioning and arrests, a 2016 NIA chargesheet says narrowed down on 5 masterminds. Authorities in India arrested three individuals, while airstrikes in Afghanistan claimed the lives of two others who had reached the country. This is the story of the intricate web between this group from Kerala. And the story of how an arrested aide of fugitive preacher Zakir Naik radicalised them at the Islamic Research Foundation in Mumbai. How an imam in Kasargod, Kerala turned them. How the Christians were helped to convert. And how they finally joined Daesh/I.S and left for Afghanistan
Another key point is intense U.S. airstrikes and clashes with the Taliban over 2 years forced many to surrender. The U.S. even dropped the “mother of all bombs” on an Islamic State cave complex in April 2017. ‘MOAB’ was the most powerful conventional bomb in the American arsenal, at that time.
Married and widowed in the ‘Islamic State’. Basically, these Indians were among more than 1,400 men, women and children who surrendered to the then-Afghan government. That took place in November and December 2019. At the time of questioning in 2019, many of the women said they wanted to come home. But, troubling questions remain. Were they genuinely disillusioned with the ‘ Islamic State’? How much were they concealing? And the most troubling question of all. Do they pose a security risk?
You judge…
Editor’s Note: The questioning took place in Afghanistan in 2019. StratNews Global has been unable to verify the whereabouts and fate of those featured in this video. Post their questioning, the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021.
