>> Andrew: THE SHOOTING AT MOSCOW'S CONCERT HALL LASTED FOR ALMOST AN HOUR. IT WAS FRIDAY WHENTION THE ATTACKERS WENT ON THEIR RAM -- WENT ON THEIR RAMPAGE. FIRING AT PEOPLE POINT-BLANK, EYEWITNESSES SAY, KILLING MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN. THEN SETTING THE CONCERT HALL ABLAZE. AN ISIS AFFILIATE KNOWN AS ISIS-K HAS TAKEN IT'S REALLY A WAKE-UP CALL THAT THEY HAVE THE CAPACITY TO DO SUCH HORRIFIC THINGS. >> Andrew: SO WHAT IS ISIS-K AND WHY DID THEY ATTACK? TO UNDERSTAND WHY THIS ISIS AFFILIATE HATES RUSSIA, YOU REALLY NEED TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE TALIBAN IS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE. THE "K" IN ISIS-K STANDS FOR KHORASAN. THAT'S A HISTORICAL REGION TAKE UP PARTS OF IRAN, AFGHANISTAN, WHICH ISIS CONSIDERS A PROVINCE OF THE ISLAMIC STATE. ISIS-K PAYS A POWER THAT'S MOSTLY IN EASTERN AFGHANISTAN ALONG THE BORDER. >> IT'S ACTUALLY FORMED BY A GROUP OF DISAFFECTED, DISGRUNTLED MILITANTS AFFILIATED WITH THE TALIBAN. >> Andrew: EVEN AMONG TERRORIST GROUPS, ISIS IS EXTREME --S BEHEADINGS, ENSLAVEMENT. ISIS BELIEVES IN A KIND OF ABSOLUTIST, STRICT ADHERENCE TO ISLAMIC SCRIPT YOU ARE AND SHARIA LAW. MUSLIMS WHO DON'T, ARE HERETICS. THAT EXTREME IDEOLOGY IS EXACTLY WHAT APPEALS TO THESE TALIBAN DEFECTORS. THOSE WHO WENT ON TO HAVE FOUND ISIS-K, THEY THOUGHT THE TALIBAN'S VISION WAS TOO SOFT. >> THEY CONSIDER THE TALIBAN AS NOT HARD-LINE ENOUGH, AND THEY BROKE AWAY TO FORM THEIR OWN GROUP, FACTION AFFILIATED WITH THE ISLAMIC STATE. >> Andrew: EVERY TO THE NEXT FEW YEARS, THE GROUP RECRUITED THOUSANDS OF NEW MEMBERS, BUT THEIR IMPACT STAYED RELATIVELY SMALL UNTIL 2021 WHEN THE U.S. PULLED OUT OF AFGHANISTAN. AGES FROM AL-JAZEERA CLAIM IT SHOW TALIBAN FIGHTERS FROM INSIDE THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE. EARLIER TODAY, THE PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN FLED THE COUNTRY. >> Andrew: AND JUST TWO DAYS AFTER THE FALL OF KABUL, RUSSIA'S AMBASSADOR TO AFGHANISTAN BECAME THE FIRST FOREIGN DIPLOMAT TO PUBLICLY MEET WITH THE TALIBAN BECAUSE EVEN THEN, RUSSIA SAW ISIS BROADLY AND ISIS-K SPECIFICALLY AS A GROWING THREAT. >> THERE WAS A TIME PERIOD, ABOUT A YEAR AFTER THE TALIBAN CAME BACK TO POWER THAT THERE WERE A LOT OF BOMBINGS, AND IT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS GOING TO BECOME A SIGNIFICANT SECURITY THREAT. >> Andrew: SINCE THEN, RUSSIA HAS LEANED IN EVEN MORE CLOSELY WITH THE TALIBAN, EVEN SIGNING AN ECONOMIC DEAL] >> Andrew: BUT THIS IS ALL RELATIVELY RECENT HISTORY. GO BACK DECADES AND YOU'LL FIND DECADES OF BITTER WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE BROADER MUSLIM WORLD. THE ANALYST ISIS-K HAS BEEN INCREASINGLY FOCUSED ON RUSSIA IN BOTH THEIR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL MESSAGING IN THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS, CLAIMING THE COUNTRY HAS A LONG HISTORY OF OPPRESSING MUSLIMS WORLDWIDE. >> IF YOU LOOK AT THE LITERATURE THAT'S COME OUT FROM THE ISLAMIC STATE, THE IFK, THE PROPAGANDA, THE SPEECHES FROM LEADERS AND ALL, THERE'S A CONSTANT FEELING FOCUSED ON HOW RUSSIA IS DOING HORRIBLE THINGS TO MOSCOW. >> THINK BACK TO WHEN SOVIET LAUNCHED AN INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN OCCUPYING EVERY MAJOR CITY, KILLING WELL OVER A MILLION CIVILIANS. >> Reporter: 18,000 MEN WERE ON THE MOVE. PARATROOPS, ARTILLERY AND MOTORIZED RIFLEMEN BACKED BY HELICOPTER GUNSHIPS. >> Andrew: IN THE 1990s, THERE WAS THE WAR WITH CHECHNYA, THE TINY REPUBLIC INSIDE SOUTHERN RUSSIA. AFTER REBELS STARTED THREATENING THE LEASHED A HEAVY BOMBING CAMPAIGN. THAT CONFLICT DRAGGED ON FOR YEARS. AND THEN JUST OVER A DECADE LATER, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN STEPPED IN TO FIGHT ISIS DIRECTLY. >> IT'S BEEN A GAME-CHANGING COUPLE OF WEEKS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OVER SYRIA. >> THE ISLAMIC STATE IS NEARING DEFEAT. RUSSIA TRIED TO REGAIN ITS STATUS AS KEY POWER IN THE MIDDLE EAST. IT WANTS THE WORLD TO GIVE IT CREDIT FOR THE VICTIMS. >> Andrew: PUTIN DIRECTLY SUPPORTED SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD IN THAT WAR HELPING HIM RECLAIM A HUGE SWATH OF TERRITORY OVER A COUPLE OF YEARS. >> OFTENTIMES IT'S UNIFIED LEADERS IN THE LITERATURE DESCRIBING RUSSIA. IT'S LIKE THIS IDEA THAT RUSSIA'S INTERVENTIONIST, INVADING, PREDATORY, OCCUPYING POWER. IN PARTICULAR, DONE IN A WAY IN A MUSLIM -- IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES. >> Andrew: AND LAST WEEK, ALL OF THAT HISTORY, ALL OF THAT BAD BLOOD LED TO THIS. [GUNFIRE] >> Andrew: THE GROUP'S FIRST SUCCESSFUL ATTACK BEYOND ITS HOME TURF. NOW WE DON'T YET KNOW FOR SURE IF THESE ATTACKERS WERE SENT FROM AFGHANISTAN OR NEIGHBOURING COUNTRY, OR IF THEY WERE PART OF A NETWORK OF RUSSIAN NATIONALIST SYMPATHIZERS WITH THE ISIS CAUSE. RUSSIAN MEDIA CLAIM THEY ARE FROM TAJIKISTAN WHICH SHARES A BORDER WITH AFGHANISTAN, THAT THEY MIGRATED AND LIVING IN AND AROUND MOSCOW. RUSSIAN OFFICIALS HAVE ALSO SUGGESTED WITHOUT EVIDENCE THAT UKRAINE WAS SOMEHOW INVOLVED, SOMETHING THAT BOTH KYIV AND THE U.S. HAVE CALLED ABSURD
