Zenn, Jacob. "The IMU is extinct: what next for Central Asia's jihadis?". Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 3 May 2016.

Zenn, Jacob. "The IMU is extinct: what next for Central Asia's jihadis?". Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 3 May 2016.

• By the time that Omar al-Baghdadi declared the creation of a caliphate in Mosul in 2014, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan [IMU] was already losing recruits to the Syrian Civil War, which was easier to access and had more a historical connection to Islam than Afghanistan.
• Several Uzbek jihadist groups have formed in Syria, with the most prominent being Katibat Tawhid wal Jihod and the Imam Buhari Brigade, both affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Jabhat al-Nusra.
• While some Uzbeks have joined ISIS, as a whole Uzbek jihadis in Syria have joined groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda, with around 80% of the 3,000 Central Asian recruits being in groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda or allied groups.
• In 2015, Usman Ghazi, the leader of the IMU, pledged loyalty to al-Baghdadi and ISIS. This has been seen as a response to a diminishing ability of Al-Qaeda to support affiliated groups in Afghanistan as money and recruits have dried up, and logistics in Pakistan have been decimated by the US. Usman Ghazi believes that ISIS can providing funding for the IMU, in return for making the ISIS claim to a "Khurasan Province" more tenable.
• Before pledging allegiance to ISIS, Usman Ghazi denounced the Taliban for covering up the death of Mullah Omar. In response, the Taliban attacked an IMU base in Zabul province and killed for severely injured Usman Ghazi and other high-ranking members of the IMU.
• The author claims that this attack has eliminated the IMU from activity and killed the group.
• The death of Usman Ghazi and widespread claims about the effective destruction of the IMU as an organization will resolve a major security threat to Toshkent and thus reduce much of the leverage of Uzbekistan in refusing to improve conditions of religious freedom.
• Syrian groups such as Katibat Tawhid wal Jihod and the Imam Buhari Brigade may step in to fill the gap left by the IMU, as both groups retain the international connections provided by an alliance with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. An attack by the Imam Buhari Brigade in Afghanistan in 2016 may indicate that they intend to expand into Central Asia.