Shahab al-Muhajir

Sanaullah Ghafari (ثناءالله غفاری; born October 28, 1994), better known under his nom de guerre, Shahab al-Muhajir (شهاب المهاجر) is an Afghan militant, serving as the Emir of the Islamic State's Khorasan Province since 2020.

Ghafari was born to a family of merchants near the Shakardara district of Kabul, his family reportedly migrated from India to Afghanistan.

He received religious education from the Ghaffari Madrassa in Kabul, and obtained an engineering degree at Kabul University.

He worked as a sub-contractor of a security company and frequented Bagram Airfield.

He reportedly joined the Haqqani network between 2010 and 2012, and became a mid-level operative until his defection in 2015.

The Taliban denies that Ghafari was a member of the Haqqani network.

He was a special guard of then First Vice Presidents Abdul Rashid Dostum and Amrullah Saleh, and had a license to transfer weapons since 2017.

In April 2020, Ghafari was named emir and head of operations of ISIS–K.

He is also reportedly the first non-Afghan or non-Pakistani national to be named emir of ISIS–K.

After the 2021 Kabul airport attack masterminded by Ghafari, the Taliban announced that they would take every possible measure to capture him.

On June 6, 2023, the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence reportedly began a "grand operation" against ISIS–K in the Sirkanay District of Kunar Province with at least 3 hideouts destroyed and 14 ISIS–K members killed.

The operation's objective was to kill or capture Ghafari and ISIS–K spokesman Sultan Aziz Azzam after an intelligence tip-off.

Pakistani media reported Ghafari's death on June 9 under "mysterious circumstances", citing Afghan and Pakistani intelligence officials.

The reports were confirmed by Voice of America, citing Afghan sources.

A Taliban spokesman stated that the reports could not be confirmed.