Who Is Khorasan?

摘要

Publicly identified for the first time in late September when the U.S. launched air strikes against its positions in Syria, the Khorasan group was "working on an effort to attack the U.S. or our allies, and looking to do it very, very soon," according to FBI Director James Comey. As more information emerges, we learn that it may not be so new after all. The group is tiny, perhaps a couple dozen people, and until President Obama targeted it with cruise missiles on Sept. 23, it had managed to stay under the radar. Khorasan did not tweet. It had no YouTube channel. In the constellation of armed groups operating in Syria, it was the dark star. Even today, its actual name remains unknown, if it has one. Khorasan is the label U.S. intelligence officials say they agreed on, the ancient name for a region that includes parts of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Iran and that some say the Prophet Muhammad predicted would produce a triumphant army under black flags.