An Afghan official says a military offensive has been launched against the Islamic State group in the country’s far eastern region.
Advertisement
At least 120 members of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group have been killed in an Afghan army offensive in the northern province of Nangarhar.
The offensive, part of the government’s Operation Shafaq – or Dawn in Pahsto – started hours after an Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 80 people who were taking part in a peaceful demonstration in Kabul on Saturday. With the US, the United Nations and Afghan all on board to hold those responsible for this attack on Kabul working together, it is possible that this latest push to remove ISIS from Afghanistan could in fact be effective.
President Ashraf Ghani gave the orders for the offensive, which Waziri said will consist of airstrikes and ground attacks, including those by special forces.
The offensive marks a new chapter in Afghanistan’s war against insurgents.
While worldwide forces declared their combat mission over at the end of 2014, they continue to conduct air strikes and special operations missions.
Following a massive attack in Kabul, the Afghan military has launched a major offensive against the Islamic State group in the country’s far eastern region near the border with Pakistan, Afghan and USA officials said Tuesday. President Barack Obama’s decision to slow down the withdrawal of US forces from the country may be enough to delay a hard debate about abandoning the Afghans. Nicholson can make the strategic shift from using airpower only to defend US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation positions, to striking in support of Afghan offensives.
A spokesman for the provincial governor Attaullah Khoghyani said that Emarati was recently appointed as the group’s military leader in Kot, reports Tolo News.
“I don’t believe we will be doing anything differently … the USA will continue to unilaterally target Daesh and will continue to conduct kinetic strikes”, said Gen. Cleveland.
For the first time, the Afghan air force killed or wounded more civilians in its operations than did air strikes carried out by worldwide forces, the United Nations reported. Another 122 had been wounded, he said. The numbers could not be independently verified.
The increasing number of casualties caused by the government, meanwhile, was largely due to wide use of heavy explosives during ground battles, investigators reported.
It said government forces had killed hundreds of insurgents in the past two months in assaults on Daesh strongholds in the eastern province of Nangarhar, which straddles the highway from Kabul to the Pakistani city of Peshawar. Daesh has also capitalized on splits emerging among the ranks of the Taliban since the news broke a year ago of the death of the Taliban founder and long-time leader Mullah Omar.
The U.S. general added that ISIL-K is likely “in the same or even in a worse position today” than they were in recent months, reports Stars and Stripes.
Advertisement
Elsewhere in the country, Taliban gunmen attacked police checkpoints in Uruzgan province, in the south, where they have been active for many months.
