A new wave of global security concerns has emerged as intelligence assessments reveal a rapidly expanding network of sleeper cells tied to Afghan Taliban linked extremist groups. What was once viewed as Afghanistan’s internal instability has now evolved into a global threat, reaching into Europe, North America, the Middle East and beyond.
Intelligence shared by multiple agencies shows that, by 2024, sleeper cells connected to Afghan based networks had been traced across 41 countries. European states alone issued 92 security alerts within a year, while Germany flagged 118 high risk cases involving Afghan origin elements. France, Belgium and the Netherlands are among the nations urgently investigating how these networks are scaling at such speed.
Online radicalisation has also surged. Between 2021 and 2024, more than 3,800 digital recruitment and radicalisation cases were reported worldwide, nearly one fifth linked directly to groups operating from Afghanistan. Officials say these are not traditional militants, but highly adaptive digital age operatives who function silently and anonymously.
Financial intelligence has deepened global concern. In 2023, networks tied to Afghanistan moved an estimated 68 million dollars through illicit channels, with funds sourced from 18 countries and funnelled into destabilisation operations abroad.
Security experts warn that this is not a conventional conflict. It is a low noise, high impact shadow war built on covert networks, silent operatives and coordinated online and financial operations. The threat now stretches from Afghanistan into Western capitals and regional hubs, creating vulnerabilities far beyond South Asia.
Governments are increasingly acknowledging a difficult reality, Afghanistan’s militant ecosystem, strengthened under Taliban rule, is no longer a regional issue. It is a global menace with the capacity to strike anytime, anywhere, and against anyone.
