The concept of an "Islamic Army" or "Army of Imam Mahdi" traces back to Osama bin Laden’s vision of uniting global terrorist groups under a singular mission—a goal he pursued until his death, attempting to establish it in Libya in his final months. Although bin Laden’s vision didn’t result in an official "Islamic Army" during his lifetime, his son Hamza bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders took steps to advance these objectives, especially following the 2021 fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. Hamza has since formally realized this goal by establishing the Islamic Army, directing resources and efforts toward creating a transnational alliance of terrorist groups. The appointed leader of the Islamic Army is Hamza al-Ghamdi, a senior member of Al-Qaeda’s Central Council, with Sheikh al-Hadith Abdulrahman Akhundzada, a senior leader within the Afghan Taliban, serving as his deputy.
As background, in 2022, Hamza bin Laden returned to Afghanistan to collaborate with the Taliban’s Minister of Interior, Sirajuddin Haqqani, to advance his father’s ambition of consolidating international terrorist groups. The ultimate goal for Hamza and Haqqani is to establish a vast global caliphate spanning Africa, the Middle East, and Asia under the Islamic Army's banner. Currently, this alliance includes over 90 jihadist organizations with a combined force exceeding 700,000 fighters, marking an unprecedented level of consolidation within the modern jihadi landscape.
Key alliances have been formed through outreach from Al-Qaeda’s branches—AQAP, AQIM, and AQIS—followed by outreach to groups like Al-Shabaab and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and, finally, leveraging cooperative and historic relationships with the Islamic State in key conflict zones, most notably Syria and Libya. To strengthen this coalition, Saif al-Adel, the head of Al-Qaeda’s military commission, has called on all terrorists to regroup and base in Afghanistan. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliates like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades have joined as strategic partners, adding substantial support. The emphasis on Sunni-Shia cooperation reflects Osama bin Laden’s doctrine of minimizing internal divisions to establish a unified front.
The Islamic Army has access to over 30 training camps across Afghanistan, utilizing former U.S. and NATO bases equipped with secure access, fortified perimeters, guard towers, and, in some locations, airfields or helicopter landing zones. These facilities, managed by Abdallah bin Laden (Osama’s eldest son), train tens of thousands of fighters monthly, focusing on urban warfare, explosives, suicide bombing, tactical operations, and more. The camps are equipped with command-and-control centers, live-fire ranges, shoot houses for close-quarters combat, obstacle courses, vehicle maintenance facilities, armories, medical facilities, residential housing, and detention centers jointly secured by Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces.
Over the past year, the Islamic Army has trained thousands of fighters in Afghanistan and deployed operatives with primary missions in Syria, Mali, Burkina Faso, and conflict zones with fragile governance, such as Somalia, Yemen, and Iraq. Afghanistan serves as the Islamic Army's headquarters, where plans to expand the caliphate to "liberate" over 30 additional countries are underway, with the Mali "liberation" projected by the end of 2025. Furthermore, with a potential U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and Syria by 2026, the alliance anticipates leveraging the reduced Western presence to establish additional Islamic Emirates and extend its influence further.
The Islamic Army’s success relies on its ability to sustain alliances and adapt to geopolitical shifts. With Western policies increasingly diverting attention from counterterrorism and Afghanistan, the group is exploiting intelligence gaps. The rapid development of this unified force signals an emboldened enemy, confident and prepared to conduct large-scale operations against targets across Africa, the Middle East, and Western nations. This is not the terrorism of the past, and it is not a time to underestimate Osama’s highly ambitious son, Hamza, and his Islamic Army.
To download or print the full Islamic Army graphic created by the Transatlantic Intelligence Consortium click here: https://trackingalqaeda.com/downloads/TIC/Understanding_Global_Jihad_The_Islamic_Army_-_Army_of_Mahdi_WHITE.pdf