Shahab al-Muhajir

Sanaullah Ghafari (born 28 October 1994), better known under his nom de guerre Shahab al-Muhajir, is an Afghan militant who is serving as the 7th Wali of the Islamic State's Khorasan Province (IS–K) since 2020.

Early life Sanaullah Ghafari was born on 28 October 1994, to a Pashtun family of merchants near the Shakardara district of Kabul. His father, Abdul Jabbar Khan, reportedly fought for the Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin under Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. His surname comes from the name of his paternal grandfather, Abdul Ghafar Khan.

There are differing accounts of his ancestry. Sputnik reports that he belongs to the Kharoti tribe. The Independent Persian reports that his family lives in Pakistan.

In an identity document reportedly issued in January 2018 by the Afghan Presidential Protective Service and published by the State Department, Ghafari is presented as a body guard of former prime ministers Abdul Rashid Dostum and Amrullah Saleh and had his service pistol listed as an MP-446 Viking pistol. An officer working for Dostum's cabinet claimed that the document was falsified. The Taliban denies that Ghafari was a member of the Haqqani network.

Ghafari served for ISIS Central during the wars in Iraq and Syria. A Taliban intelligence source told al-Jazeera that he led a commando of 35 Afghans within ISIS after having pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. reportedly the first emir of ISIS–K who is not Afghan or Pakistani.

After the 2021 Kabul airport attack masterminded by Ghafari, the Taliban announced that they would take every possible measure to capture him. The Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) published a wanted poster for three ISIS–K members which included a photo of Ghafari.

Death rumors and whereabouts On June 6, 2023, the GDI 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. A Taliban spokesman stated that the reports could not be confirmed. The United Nations stated that these reports remain to be confirmed.

In March 2024, al-Mirsaad, a website believed to be associated with the Taliban's GDI, claimed that Ghafari lived in Balochistan with his close associates. These reports were corroborated by Reuters, citing sources in the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban who claim that he fled to Pakistan with injuries following the raid.