The report includes this intriguing detail: Mawlawi Abdullah’s “nomination was made during a visit by an ISIL [Islamic State] core delegation, underscoring the direct relationship between ISIL-K [Islamic State – Khorasan] and the ISIL core in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic.” Last year, the UN monitoring team reported that the Islamic State had a presence throughout the country, including in northern provinces and in the western province of Herat. And the UN Security Council’s monitoring team reports that the Islamic State’s central leadership continues to oversee the Khorasan province’s operations.