The Taliban said it seized control of the districts of Garziwan and Pashtun Kot in Faryab. The fall of the two districts took place just one week after the Taliban attempted to seize control of Maimana, the provincial capital.
Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban’s shadow governor for the embattled Afghan province of Kunduz, denied NDS reports that he was killed in a US airstrike. Salam is directing the fighting in Kunduz. Afghan soldiers are reported to have retaken the center of the city of Kunduz city and are battling the Taliban in several neighborhoods.
A senior Afghan military official confirmed that US Special Forces engaged the Taliban outside of Kunduz Airport. Maintaining control of the airport is vital if Afghan security forces hope to regain control of Kunduz city.
The US State and Treasury Departments announced 35 designations today. The designations target the Islamic State’s foreign fighters, leaders, “provinces” and other related entities. Several jihadists from the West were included among the designees.
The Taliban’s statements as well as its speedy offensive indicate that the effort to take Kunduz city was planned and coordinated in advance at the Taliban’s highest levels.
The Turkistan Islamic Party continues to highlight children in jihadist training. It is known to operate training camps for minors in both Syria and in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters today that David Drugeon, a French bombmaker who belonged to al Qaeda’s so-called “Khorasan Group,” and Abu Bakr al Turkmani, a senior Islamic State leader, have been killed in airstrikes. Drugeon was killed in July, while al Turkmani perished earlier this month.
As the jihadist group mounts offensives in the northern province of Kunduz and the southern province of Helmand, it has also been consolidating its grip on areas in eastern Afghanistan, including within the Haqqani Network stronghold of Paktika.
The group, formerly known as Boko Haram, has used at least 47 women as suicide bombers since June 2014.
The strike took place in an area in Paksitan’s tribal agency of South Waziristan that is administered by Sajna Mehsud, who heads a splinter faction that broke away from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) in May 2014.
Five veteran jihadists, including three members of al Qaeda’s management council, have reportedly been released from custody in Iran as part of a hostage exchange. The details of their detention and release from Iranian custody are murky.
Jihadist groups in Afghanistan continue to operate training camps despite the presence of coalition troops.
The raid that killed “Khuram,” the al Qaeda leader, took place in the same district in Paktika province where 15 Pakistani Taliban fighters were reported killed last week.
A senior al Qaeda leader known as Sanafi al Nasr recently claimed on his Twitter feed that David Drugeon, an alleged al Qaeda bombmaker from France, had been killed in Syria. But there are good reasons to take Nasr’s testimony with a grain of salt.
The Taliban freed more than 140 of its fighters and 200 prisoners in a coordinated suicide assault on a jail in the southeastern Afghan province of Ghazni.
AQAP’s latest edition of Inspire magazine includes an article by Ibrahim Ibn Hassan al Asiri, who describes al Qaeda’s plan to attack Charlie Hebdo in Paris.
Al Qaeda’s branches and allies have held or continue to control ground in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Mali, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Libya, contrary to the narrative that only the Islamic State seeks to take territory.
The fifth installment of the Taliban’s “Army of Badr” video series highlights the oaths of loyalty sworn by Ayman al Zawahiri and Siraj Haqqani to the Taliban’s new emir, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. The video is the latest piece of evidence that the jihadist “syndicate” continues to threaten Afghanistan 14 years after the US-led invasion of the country.
The Ugandan military confirmed that 12 of its troops were killed after the al Qaeda branch assault a base in Janale near the capital of Mogadishu. Shabaab had claimed fighters from its Sheikh Abu Zubayr Battalion killed 50 troops while overrunning the facility.
The Uzbeks may have been members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, whose leader recently swore allegiance to the Islamic State, or the splinter Islamic Jihadi Union, which remains loyal to the Taliban and al Qaeda. Both groups are known to operate in North Waziristan.
As the shadow governor for Faryab, Qari Salahuddin is responsible for directing the Taliban’s political and military activities. He was one of the first governors to swear allegiance to the Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour.
In an interview published on the Taliban’s official English-language website, Zabihullah Mujahid admits that Mullah Omar’s family and other senior Taliban officials hid Omar’s death. The text of the interview implies that Omar died in 2013.
The Islamic State claimed credit for killing Major General Abdel Rahman Abu Raghif, the deputy commander for the Anbar Operations command, and Brigadier Safin Abdel Majid, the commander of the 10th Iraqi Army Division, in a six-man suicide assault on a military headquarters near Ramadi.
Hundreds of Taliban fighters gathered in the open in Kunduz to witness Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban’s shadow governor, and other senior commanders swear allegiance to Mullah Mansour.
The fall of Musa Qala puts the Taliban in effective control of northern Helmand, and will allow it to threaten the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.
Siraj Haqqani’s brother, Abdul Aziz, is a key military commander who directs operations for the Haqqani Network and also is a member of the Kabul Attack Network. He is the 14th Haqqani network leader added to the US list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists since 2008. All have ties to al Qaeda.
Hazrat, who is also known as Abu Hazefa, was killed in Kunduz, where a number of jihadist groups are fighting Afghan forces. He served as a Taliban military commander and also was a member of al Qaeda.
Earlier this month, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan officially swore allegiance to the Islamic State’s emir, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. On August 20, fighters from the Islamic Jihad Union followed in al Qaeda’s footsteps and pledged loyalty to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, the newly appointed leader of the Taliban.
New US sanctions on two Qatari citizens expose Doha’s uneven response.
The attacks in Kabul and elsewhere over the weekend have caused top Afghan officials to accuse the Pakistani government of continuing to back the Taliban even while hosting peace talks.