ISIL-KP continues to conduct attacks in Afghanistan, challenging the Taliban’s consolidation of control. This newsletter provides a brief overview of the group’s financing activities. This analysis was originally written for my book, Illicit Money: Financing Terrorism in the 21st Century,1 but has subsequently been updated with new information.

Purchase: Illicit Money

Last updated 1 August 2022

While some have suggested that ISIL-KP is “starved financially”, the group has continued to mount operations and conduct attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. While counter-terrorism pressures in the mid-to-late 2010s reduced ISIL-KP’s operational capabilities and likely affected some of their revenue streams, the pace and intensity of attacks suggests that the group has an unidentified or underestimated funding source, or that their expenses are far less than previous estimates suggest, and certainly sufficient to mount high-impact attacks. Targeting specific areas of their finances, such as cash storage sites, financial managers, and external revenue streams are the best options for countering their ability to finance their activities.