Taliban victory has ‘heightened risk’ from militant insurgents around the world, say terror analysts

Control Risks said there was a ‘very high’ chance Afghanistan could become a safe haven for terrorists

Afghanistan’s fall to Taliban control has created the conditions for terrorist groups to use the country to launch attacks abroad, while Africa’s Sahel region has seen the rise of the fastest growing Islamist insurgency in the world, according to a report by a leading security company.

The Islamist victory across the border has led to the formation of new militant alliances in Pakistan’s tribal areas and the rise in assaults on security forces there are likely to continue, says Control Risks which raises the terrorism rating in those parts of Pakistan from “high” to “extreme”.

The report states “it will come as no surprise that Afghanistan has moved to ‘extreme’ from ‘high’. The Taliban, a sanctioned terrorist organisation, is in control. Or maybe it is not, which is one of the elements of volatility in that country for the coming year. The risk is very high that Afghanistan becomes a safe haven for terrorists with ambitions within its border and beyond.”

A number of states in Africa – the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and parts of the CAR (Central African Republic), and South Sudan have also moved to the “extreme” category in the company’s annual “RiskMap”.

However clashes between the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and a faction of Boko Haram has weakened the militant influence in Nigeria’s Borno state and limited their expansion to the south.