Amid growing concerns regarding the expansion of terrorist activities by the loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan has announced that a new special force has been formed to counter the insurgency and threats posed by the terror group.
The acting Afghan Defense Minister, Masoom Stanikzai, has said the special force will mainly focus to counter the insurgency activities of ISIS loyalists in eastern parts of the country.
The loyalists of the terror group have recently increased their insurgency activities and anti-government propaganda besides terrorizing the residents of eastern parts of the country as they aim to establish a regional base in eastern Nangarhar province.
Stanikzai told the Afghan service of Voice of America (VOA) “The IS issue is the most important [issue], which should be hard hit. People are fed up with this group.”
He said the battalion consisting of 750 personnel of the Afghan army will continue to suppress the insurgency activities of the ISIS loyalists besides the ongoing airstrikes on ISIS targets.
The remarks by Stanikzai comes as the commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan Gen. John Campbell said last year that the loyalists of the terror group are attempting to establish a regional base in Jalalabad, the capital city of eastern Nangarhar province.
Gen. Campbell further added that foreign militants from Syria and Iraq had joined the loyalists of the terror group in eastern Nangarhar province and are trying to consolidate links with the leadership of the terror group based in Syria and Iraq.
Meanwhile, the US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter later said that the threat posed by the terror group is being tracked very closely as they have started creating ‘little nests’ in Afghanistan.
The efforts of US forces to train and strengthen the Afghan security forces is commendable. Afghans are natural fighters and unfortunately they have been the victims of corrupt governments and traitors since 1978. You cannot make chicken salad from chicken shit. The afghan leaderships have been doing nothing but creating mess derived from incompetency and ties to mafias that have done nothing but bringing shame and bad name to their country. The leftover of British colonialism in neighboring country has silenced the voice of Afghan heroes in their constant terrorism activities waged in the past 40 years and they have been the voice of Afghanistan to draw their own image and picture for the world to carry on their sinister plots and schemes in a mean spirited manner. The US and international community must endorse and support the honest and good leaders to work for stability and good governance. Security forces are fighting to defend their country, but high echelon of military and politicians in Afghanistan are busy making money through siphoning money that sometimes jeopardize the security of the country. A country cannot be run by a bunch of corrupt people who releases thieves and undesirable elements from jail to award a contract and when caught, they find a escape goat to blame him for the mess.