Azam’s detention in May earlier this year effectively suspended the group’s media operations, UN report says
Pakistan’s intelligence services have arrested Khariji Sultan Aziz Azam, spokesman for the Islamic State of Khorasan (ISIS-K) and founder of the group’s official media wing, the Al-Azaim Foundation, according to a UN report submitted to the Security Council.
The findings were detailed in the sixteenth report of the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team. The document states that Azaim served as ISIS-K’s central platform for propaganda and recruitment, and that the group’s media operations have been suspended following Azam’s arrest.
Pakistani authorities have conducted a number of high-profile operations targeting ISIS-K operatives. Among them was the detention of Azam on May 16, 2025, the report confirmed.
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“There have also been a number of high-profile arrests by the Pakistani authorities, such as the arrest of an ISIL-K spokesman, Sultan Aziz Azam, on 16 May 2025,” the report noted.
According to the UN’s assessment, Pakistan’s actions have weakened ISIS-K’s organizational structure at the global level. The report said several planned attacks have been thwarted, while the number of the group’s fighters has decreased.
“Overall, ISIL-K’s capabilities have been degraded as a result of counter-terrorism operations by de facto authorities and Pakistan,” the document said.
It added that the arrest in mid-2025 of Abu Yasir al-Turki, a senior figure in the group’s media and logistical network, by Turkish and Pakistani authorities may have contributed to the closure of the ISIS-K publication Voice of Khorasan.
The document further stated that key ISIS-K commanders and ideological leaders have been neutralized, and arrests such as those of Azam and Abu Yasir al-Turki significantly reduced its operational capacity. As a result, large propaganda platforms, e.g Voice of Khorasanhas been taken offline.
The report also highlighted the evolving militancy landscape in Afghanistan. It said Al Qaeda continues to maintain close ties with the Taliban, with an ongoing presence in several Afghan provinces. However, ISIS-K remains the Taliban’s primary adversary and continues to carry out attacks both in Afghanistan and abroad, despite losing territorial control.
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The report, widely seen as critical of the Afghan Taliban regime, rejected Kabul’s claims that terrorist groups do not use Afghan soil for cross-border violence, calling the claim “not credible.”
It warned that neighboring states increasingly view Afghanistan as a source of regional insecurity, with non-state actors including ISIS-K, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Al Qaeda and others operating in the country, some of which are believed to be using Afghan territory to plot external attacks.
