FRONTLINE

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NARRATOR

Tonight on this special edition of Frontline... >> The French launching air strikes against ISIS targets... >> As the fight against ISIS intensifies after the Paris terror attacks, an exclusive report on how the radical group is spreading. Correspondent Najibullah Quraishi shows us for the first time ISIS's new foothold in Afghanistan. >>

QURAISHI

Their aim is to have their networks all over the world. When I saw these young children who learn how to kill people, how to do jihad, I was thinking, "The war will never end." >>

NARRATOR

And later tonight, in Pakistan, the Taliban are wreaking havoc in Karachi with crime, kidnapping, and targeted assassinations. >> Could you point out the areas where the Taliban has a strong presence? >> Frontline is with the police unit hunting the Taliban. Tonight, two new reports, one exclusive hour of Frontline. >> Karachi, Pakistan. Officer Ijaz Bajwa heads the city's counter-terrorism police unit. His team is on the front line of an escalating war with the Pakistani Taliban. >> Officer Ijaz has received a tip that two militants are planning an attack from a hideout in Karachi's slums. Reporter Mobeen Azhar is accompanying the police on the raid. >> The unit is informally known as the Taliban Hunters. >> The Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, used to have only a small underground presence in Karachi. Most of its fighters were based in the remote tribal areas near the Afghan border. But over the last few years, they have been gaining ground here in the country's commercial capital-- a city of over 20 million people.

The team is heading into one of the most notorious slums

Ittehad Town, a TTP stronghold. >>

NARRATOR

The team enters Ittehad Town in the early hours of the morning. The streets are empty. The final approach towards the target house is on foot. (dogs barking) >> The police say if they are spotted entering the slums, Taliban watchmen often sound an alarm as a call to arms for local militants. No one knows how many men are inside and who could be watching. (gunshots) >> The suspects open fire. (gunshots) >> The priority now is getting out of the slum. (bell ringing) >> So there was gunshots fired. And they took a gun magazine from one of the suspects. They're now taking him to the compound. As soon as we got in there, there was the sound of a kind of an alarm. And a few of the officers told me that these Taliban members sound the alarm to tell people in the area that the police are here. That's why we have to make a quick exit right now. We have to get out of the area. (siren wailing) >> The police say they believe the suspects were in the final stages of planning to kidnap a prominent businessman. They'll be put in solitary confinement for the next five days. Human rights groups have accused the Karachi authorities of abusing the militants they capture in the fight against the Taliban. Officer Ijaz says he operates within the law, but that the harsh conditions in his jail make suspects more likely to talk. The Pakistani Taliban first emerged in 2007. Their violent campaign to topple the government made headlines last year with the attack on a school in Peshawar that left 132 children dead. (sirens wailing) >> This was a well-planned massacre-- a bloody eight-hour rampage executed without mercy. (man crying) >> Over the last 18 months, the Pakistani army has been trying to force the Taliban out of their sanctuary in North Waziristan, a remote region near the Afghan border. The military campaign has had an unintended consequence. Thousands of Taliban have taken refuge in the slums of Karachi. They use the city as a base to raise money through crime and kidnapping, and to launch more attacks. The battle against the militants here falls mainly to the police, not the army. Officer Ijaz and his team monitor the Taliban and other extremist groups from this surveillance center. >> Could you point out the areas where the Taliban has a strong presence? >> Urangi, Baldir, Saeedabad, Ittehad Town. These areas. Then we have Surjani, we have Sarabghot area. So basically the slums are encircling the city, and these slums, they are very dangerous. >> It's from these slums that the Taliban have been organizing their attacks. >> Please show us the blast. This white bus with blue stripes, this is coming. And here you go. >> This suicide bombing was carried out at rush hour in a busy marketplace. Police say six people were killed and 52 injured. But the militants' most common tactic is targeted assassination. >> You can see these two guys being shot. Shots being fired on them. >> Here, two men are gunned down by Taliban members on motorbikes. One is killed instantly. Police, journalists, and anyone opposing the Taliban is a potential target. >> These two guys will fire the next guy going on a motorbike in blue dress. >> This man rides his motorbike during rush hour. His killer is just a few feet behind him. The gunman strikes and drives away unchallenged. Officer Ijaz says his men have limited resources to take on the Taliban. >> Captured Taliban suspects are detained in Officer Ijaz's compound. >> This particular suspect, he's in custody on suspicion of killing some of law enforcement personnel. And we're interrogating him, still some things to extract, because we have some physical and material evidence against him, and we need his confession or his side of the story too for better chance of a conviction. >> This man, Mansoor, is accused of multiple targeted assassinations. Ijaz insists that his face remains covered to stop him from seeing the officers. He says if Mansoor is ever released, he could try to target the police who questioned him. Mansoor agrees to be interviewed, but Officer Ijaz stays in the room to monitor what he says. >> Ijaz suddenly interrupts to ask his own questions. >> Mansoor says he is proud to have killed the police officers. He's now awaiting trial. Officer Ijaz says he can hold suspects for up to 28 days for interrogation. If his team can't extract a confession or get other solid evidence in that time, he has to let them go. >> I got to the compound about ten minutes ago, and as soon as I got here, I could hear screaming from the interrogation area down there. You can see two suspects that are up against the wall right now. >> It's now five days since the raid and capture of the two Taliban suspects. Officer Ijaz agrees to bring them out of their cells to be interviewed. Once again, he insists that their faces are covered, and that he sits in. >> I need to ask you something, Officer Ijaz. You know, when I arrived at the compound, I did hear some screaming from one of the interrogation rooms, but the human rights commission of Pakistan has expressed concerns about the use of torture. What techniques do you use? >> (laughs) We don't do this, because... >> Ijaz says that these prisoners have already confessed to a kidnapping plot. >> Over the last year, Officer Ijaz says his team has captured more than 200 militants. Yet terrorist attacks in Karachi continue. Last May, a Taliban splinter group killed 43 civilians in an attack on a bus. The killers had recently pledged loyalty to ISIS. >> Next time... >> This is the al-Qaeda that Osama bin Laden only dreamed of. >> The intelligence continued to point to what could happen. >> The view was, this is Iraq's problem, let them deal with it. >> The growth of ISIS was noted and the deterioration of the Iraqi forces was missed. >>

OBAMA

If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven. >> Go to pbs.org/frontline to read an interview with filmmaker Najibullah Quraishi about his reporting from inside ISIS territory. >> I honestly didn't know if I was going to get back. >> And see more of our ongoing coverage of ISIS. Then connect to the Frontline community on Facebook and Twitter. Visit us on YouTube for even more original Frontline reporting. >> Now you can get original short Frontline documentaries... >> Then sign up for our newsletter at pbs.org/frontline. >> For more on this and other Frontline programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline. Frontline's "ISIS in Afghanistan" is available on DVD. To order, visit shopPBS.org or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS. Frontline is also available for download on iTunes.