Islamic State Khorasan Province

What is Islamic State Khorasan Province?

Islamic State Khorasan Province, often abbreviated ISIS-K, ISKP, IS-KP, or ISIL-K, is a regional affiliate of the Islamic State. The National Counterterrorism Center's ISIS-Khorasan profile identifies the group in a counterterrorism context and dates its public profile as of June 2026.

This page is a restricted-risk entity profile. It is designed for identification, source review, and safe routing. It should not be used to publish operational detail, propaganda material, tactical claims, recruitment language, or undated claims about current attacks.

Basic facts

Question	Answer
Common abbreviations	ISIS-K, ISKP, IS-KP, and ISIL-K.
Parent movement	Islamic State, while remaining a distinct regional affiliate for editorial routing.
Primary geography in public profiles	Afghanistan and the wider Central and South Asia context, depending on the source and date.
Editorial risk level	Restricted, because the topic concerns a sanctioned terrorist organization, violent extremist propaganda, and active security reporting.

How sources describe the group

The United Nations Security Council narrative summary lists the entity as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - Khorasan and places it under the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida sanctions framework. The NCTC profile provides U.S. counterterrorism identity context. Australia's listed terrorist organization page describes Islamic State Khorasan Province as a transnational Sunni violent extremist group based primarily in Afghanistan.

Analytical sources provide broader background. CSIS describes ISKP as a branch of the Islamic State active in Central and South Asia. The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism snapshot discusses its post-2021 activity in Afghanistan. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service publication assesses the group's capacities and future prospects in the context of Afghanistan's security environment.

Editorial handling

Legacy pages about "Khorasan video" or similar titles should not become indexable pages unless they independently document a specific media item with dated, reliable sources and clear public-interest framing. Source-poor pages that only repeat broad security language should redirect here.

For new coverage, separate identity sources, sanctions records, and incident reporting. Avoid amplifying media releases or visual propaganda. When a claim comes from a state agency, sanctions committee, media report, or think-tank analysis, identify that source role instead of merging all claims into one voice.

Related pages

For adjacent restricted profiles, see Islamic State and Al-Shabaab. These pages cover distinct entities and should not be merged with Islamic State Khorasan Province.

Sources

• National Counterterrorism Center profile for ISIS-Khorasan
• United Nations Security Council narrative summary for ISIL-K
• CSIS Examining Extremism profile for ISKP
• International Centre for Counter-Terrorism snapshot on Islamic State Khorasan Province
• Australian National Security listing for Islamic State Khorasan Province
• Canadian Security Intelligence Service analysis of Islamic State-Khorasan