Khorasan Files: The Journey Of Indian ‘Islamic State’ Widows

NEW DELHI: Thiruvananthapuram to Tora Bora: Sonia Sebastian/Ayisha, Merrin Jacob/ Mariyam, Raffeala and Fathima Isa/Nimisha in the ‘Islamic State’ terror group. This StratNews Global Exclusive ties Indian women with MBA and engineering degrees to the world’s most bloodthirsty terrorist group. We piece together an account of how two groups of 60 Indians made their way from Kerala to Kabul and then Khorasan.

This is some of the questioning of the wives and widows of Indians who left, lived, fought and died for the ‘Islamic State’ in Afghanistan.

Married and widowed in the ‘Islamic State’, Indians are among the more than 1,400 men, women and children who surrendered to the Afghan government in November and December, 2019. Many of the women say they want to come home, but troubling questions remain: Are they genuinely disillusioned with the ‘ Islamic State’? How much are they concealing? And the most troubling question of all: Do they pose a security risk?

You judge…