Afghanistan Content Report: May 31 – June 6, 2025

Afghanistan Content Report 

 May 31 – June 6, 2025

Please note that all items in this issue concern ISIS-K 

Table of contents 

  1. ISIS Al-Naba Newsletter Edition 498, Published June 5, 2025
  2. Pro-ISIS Online Chatter
  3. ISIS Amaq/Nashir Statements 

 

Main points (Pro-ISIS Online Chatter) 

Afghanistan

  • A Taliban leader was wounded, two of his guards were killed, and two other people were injured in a bomb attack targeting a vehicle in Nangarhar.
  • The Taliban appointed Gul Hassan as their ambassador to Russia, following Moscow’s approval of the choice.
  • Unidentified gunmen murdered the head of the education department for Dand district, Kandahar, Qari Saeed Ahmad Salar.
  • Unidentified gunmen murdered a World Health Organization (WHO) security employee in Badakhshan.
  • Unidentified gunmen murdered a military officer from the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, as well as three other former soldiers.
  • Two Afghan men who allegedly worked as translators for the U.S. military were murdered in the United States. A Kentucky man was killed during an attempted carjacking, and the other man was killed by unidentified individuals in Oklahoma.
  • In his Eid al-Adha message, Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada called for national unity. 

Pakistan 

  • A leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in Chaman district, Balochistan, was wounded in an assassination attempt.
  • Two people were killed and seven wounded in an explosion in Quetta.
  • An explosive device destroyed a car in Quetta, killing the driver.
  • Several police officers were wounded by a roadside bomb in Quetta. 

 

1. ISIS Al-Naba Newsletter Edition 498, Published June 5, 2025 

•     There were no ISIS-K news items in this week’s al-Naba. 

 

2. Pro-ISIS Online Chatter 

  • May 31: Pro-ISIS post on Telegram claiming that unidentified gunmen murdered a former interior ministry officer in Nuristan. 

“Urgent: Gunmen assassinate a former Afghan interior ministry officer in the province of Nuristan.” 

 

“Urgent. Hafiz Gul, a leader of the Pakistan Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in Punjab province, was seriously injured in an assassination attempt in Quetta.” 

 

  • May 31: Pro-ISIS post on Telegram stating that an unidentified explosion in Quetta killed two people and wounded seven others. A news report said it was an attempt to extort the owner of a coal mine. 

    See https://www.dawn.com/news/1914544. 

“Urgent: An explosion in the Killi Mangal area of Quetta, Pakistan, kills two people and injures seven others.” 

 

  • June 1: Pro-ISIS post on Telegram stating that an explosive device destroyed a car in Quetta, killing the driver. 

“Urgent. A sticky bomb targeting a car in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan, exploded, killing [the vehicle’s] owner. The motive for the incident is not yet known.” 

 

Text: “Russia approves the Taliban’s nomination of an ambassador to Moscow. The Afghan Foreign Ministry said that Russia has officially approved the Taliban government’s appointment of an ambassador to Moscow.” 

“Follow-ups. The Russian government has agreed to the Afghan Taliban government’s appointment of an ambassador to Moscow.” 

June 1 Pro-ISIS post on Telegram Russia approved Taliban request

“Urgent: A police officer and several of his companions were injured when unknown assailants detonated a roadside bomb in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan.” 

 

  • June 2: Pro-ISIS post on Telegram stating that unidentified gunmen murdered the head of the education department for Dand district, Kandahar, Qari Saeed Ahmad Salar. 

“Urgent: Gunmen assassinate Taliban leader and Kandahar Education Director Qari Saeed Ahmad Salar in the Dand district of Kandahar, Afghanistan.” 

 

  • June 2: Pro-ISIS post on Telegram claiming to show a photo of the head of the education department for Dand district, Kandahar, Qari Saeed Ahmad Salar, who was murdered. 

“Update. Photo of the Taliban leader who was assassinated by gunmen in Kandahar while returning home.” 

 

 

  • June 2: Pro-ISIS post on Telegram containing photos from the 16th Kazan Forum, held in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan between May 13 and 18. The post noted that Taliban leaders attended the forum to discuss regional counter-terrorism issues. 

“Follow-ups. Photo from the Kazan Forum, a Russian forum dedicated to combating terrorism, attended by several Afghan Taliban leaders for regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism.” 

June 2 Telegram 16th Kazan Forum

 

“Urgent. Gunmen assassinate a WHO security officer in the Yamgan district of Badakhshan, Afghanistan.” 

 

  • June 3: Pro-ISIS post on Telegram stating that two Afghan men who previously worked as translators for the U.S. military in Afghanistan were killed in the United States. According to news reports, one man, Rasool Jan, was killed in an attempted carjacking in Kentucky, and Zarmin Shinwari was killed by unidentified individuals in Oklahoma. See https://amu.tv/178086/.  

“Follow-ups. Gunmen assassinated two Afghans who worked as translators for the U.S. military in Afghanistan after targeting them with gunfire in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Sources indicate this is the fourth incident within a week.” 

 

“Follow-ups. Taliban appoints Gul Hassan as ambassador to Russia. On June 3, the Afghan embassy in 

Moscow announced the appointment of Gul Hassan as Afghanistan’s new ambassador to the Russian Federation. The Russian government issued a formal approval, a requirement for diplomatic appointments, indicating Moscow’s acceptance of his nomination as Kabul’s official representative. Gul Hassan served as Afghanistan’s advisor in Quetta, Pakistan, and is expected to arrive in Russia soon to assume his diplomatic duties.” 

 

“Follow-ups. An Afghan Taliban leader meets with the Popular Mobilization Forces’ ambassador to Turkey and requests the opening of a Taliban embassy in Baghdad.” 

June 4 Pro-ISIS post on Telegram stating that a high-ranking Taliban diploma
  • June 4: Pro-ISIS post on Telegram stating that in his Eid al-Adha message, Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada called for national unity. 

“Follow-ups. Afghan Taliban leader [Hibatullah] Akhundzada, in a message to the Afghan people on the occasion of Eid al-Adha: ‘I urge the Afghan people to unite and achieve national unity.’” 

 

 

  • June 5: Pro-ISIS post on Telegram stating that a Taliban leader was wounded, two of his guards were killed, and two other people were injured in a bomb attack targeting a vehicle in Nangarhar. ISIS claimed credit for this attack the same day. 

“Urgent. A sticky bomb exploded targeting the vehicle of an Afghan Taliban leader in the Dara-e-Noor district of Nangarhar, wounding him, killing two of his guards, and wounding two others.” 

 

  • June 5: Pro-ISIS post on Telegram stating that unidentified gunmen murdered a military officer from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, as well as three other former soldiers. The post noted that all four men “had recently returned from Iran” after seeking safety there after the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban. 

“Urgent. Gunmen assassinate Akhtar Jawzjani (commander of the second district in Sheberghan in the former Afghan government) in Jawzjan province. Gunmen also assassinated three former Afghan army personnel in the same area. It should be noted that the four killed had recently returned from Iran after fleeing the NATO-led handover of Afghanistan to the Taliban several years ago.” 

 

Text: “Three rockets, two of which exploded, landed near the presidential palace in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Tuesday morning, as officials gathered around President Ashraf Ghani minutes before he delivered a speech marking Eid al-Adha, according to the interior ministry. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on Tuesday. ‘We targeted the Afghan presidential palace and the Green Zone in Kabul with seven Katyusha rockets,’ the group said in a statement posted on extremist accounts on Telegram.” 

“Entertainment. On the occasion of Eid al-Adha, we recall with you how terrorists bombed the heavily fortified Green Zone in the Afghan capital, Kabul, which houses the presidential palace and several embassies, including the U.S. embassy. The bombing occurred while Ashraf Ghani was attending Eid al-Adha prayers on July 20, 2021. 

“Following this incident, U.S. forces quickly handed the country over to the Taliban so they could escape and hand over the mantle of combating terrorism to the movement, a task they continue to suffer from to this day.” 

June 6 Pro-ISIS Telegram Eid al-Adha rocket attack

 

3. ISIS Amaq/Nashir Statements 

•     June 5: ISIS claims to have killed three Taliban soldiers in the Dara-e-Noor district of Nangarhar in an attack on a vehicle using an “explosive device.” 

“Khorasan Province, by the grace of God Almighty, the soldiers of the Caliphate detonated an explosive device on a vehicle of the apostate Taliban militia in the Dara-e-Noor district of Nangarhar, destroying it and killing three members, praise be to God.” 

june 5 ISIS Nashir statement
Counterpoint Series
Afghanistan