The raids in Helmand and Nangarhar indicate that al Qaeda’s leaders are not focused on its survival. Al Mesri was focused on manufacturing IEDs to support the Taliban’s insurgency in Helmand, while Rahmatullah and his cohorts were operating in Nangarhar’s provincial capital.
The Taliban remains active in Parwan, where it contested five of the provinces 10 districts. One American and two Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the suicide attack.
The video, which purports to show several foreign Islamic State militants surrendering to the Taliban, allows for a more detailed look at the composition of the group in northern Afghanistan.
The complex Taliban operation that was designed to eject the Islamic State from Jawzjan highlights the Taliban’s ability to coordinate and mass for attacks in the Afghan north. However it is unlikely that the Islamic State has been “completely defeated” in the north.
Resolute Support continues to invent new terminology to obfuscate the extent of Taliban control in Afghanistan.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack on a school for midwives in Jalalabad, Afghanistan yesterday, saying the target was a headquarters for USAID. Despite a focused, US-led counterterrorism campaign against Wilayah Khorasan in Nangarhar, the group retains an operational footprint in eastern Afghanistan.
The Taliban takeover of the Paktika districts of Omna and Gayan occur as US generals attempt to put a positive spin on the Afghan military’s capabilities.
An estimated 150 Afghan security personnel (soldiers, policemen, and militia fighters) have been killed in major Taliban attacks over the past two weeks.
The press release also described the Taliban who are being targeted and killed as “Taliban irreconcilables.” However, Resolute Support has yet to identify any reconcilable Taliban.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that struck near the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul only minutes after Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum passed through the area.
The photo-set is at least the second this month showing clashes with the Taliban in the Afghan north.
The rise of the Islamic State in Jawzjan province over the past year has threatened the Taliban’s operations in the Afghan north.
The Taliban has been operating prisons in Helmand for at least three years. Raids on Taliban prisons has done nothing to keep the group from expanding its control in Helmand.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) found that the Taliban was responsible for more civilian casualties than any other party in Afghanistan during the first six months of 2018.
The Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at the Afghan government’s Rural Rehabilitation and Development Ministry in Kabul earlier today. The so-called caliphate dispatched a suicide bomber to strike the same ministry in June.
The Red Unit, the Taliban’s version of special forces that operates throughout Afghanistan and is often at the tip of the spear of assaults on district centers, military bases and outposts, is said to have initiated the fighting in Dasht-i-Archi district. At least 30 Afghan soldiers were killed during the assault.
The deadly bombing is the first major attack executed by the Taliban group since Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud assumed command of the group in late June.
The Taliban reiterated that it views itself as the sole representative of the Afghan people, while those who fight for the Afghan government are “puppets” of the United States.
The Pentagon and the US intelligence community have been consistently wrong about al Qaeda’s strength in Afghanistan, and evidence of strategic ties between the two groups does indeed exist.
The Afghan government is maintaining its unilateral ceasefire despite the current Taliban offensive.
The TTP appears to be returning to its roots by selecting Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, a prominent commander from the Mehsud tribe, to lead it. The TTP also confirmed the death of Mullah Fazlullah.
The Taliban has rejected a request by the Afghan government to extend its three-day ceasefire. The Taliban claims that the short-lived lull in the fighting proved that it has command-and-control over its forces throughout the country and that the mujahideen enjoy popular support.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense claims Mullah Fazlullah was killed in a US airstrike in Kunar on June 13. His death has not been confirmed by the US or the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Fazlullah’s death, if confirmed, may not be as impactful as US, Pakistani, and Afghan officials would like to believe.
Yet again, the Taliban stated that it will only negotiate after US and NATO forces withdraw from Afghanistan, and that everyone must accept the “ground realities,” meaning that the Taliban will rule the country.
The move by the Taliban directly contradicts the top US and NATO general in Afghanistan’s assertion that the Taliban is “no longer attempting to gain new ground.”
A suicide bomber struck the front gate of the Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development building in Kabul earlier today. The Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility via its Amaq News Agency propaganda arm. It is the latest in a string of attacks claimed by the so-called caliphate in Kabul this year.
The Taliban has announced that it will refrain from offensive operations against the Afghan government for three days during the Eid holiday. However, this is a shorter timeframe than the Afghan government’s announced ceasefire. And the jihadists say they will continue to attack the “foreign occupiers,” meaning the US and allied forces, during this brief respite. The Taliban also does not say it will participate in meaningful peace talks with the Afghan government.
In early May, the Taliban shut down the main highway that links Ghazni and Paktia provinces in eastern Afghanistan. One month later, the Taliban continues to control the road and tax civilians as Afghan forces have been unable to secure the road.
The government of Afghanistan announced yesterday that it has entered into a unilateral ceasefire with the Taliban. Gen. John Nicholson, who oversees the US-led war effort, claimed it was a “bold initiative for peace.” But the thinking behind the ceasefire is confused.
A suicide bomber struck a meeting of the Afghan Ulema Council (AUC) in Kabul earlier today. The Taliban’s spokesman denied that his group had any connection to the attack. However, the Islamic State claimed responsibility via its Amaq News Agency, which released two short messages on the “martyrdom” operation.