DUSHANBE, December 7, 2015, Asia-Plus –
The Sunday Telegraph
reported on December 6 that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has invaded swaths of Afghanistan, capturing a number of areas.
The terror group is said to hold four districts south of Jalalabad as part of its drive to establish a new province for its self-style “caliphate.”
Pictures posted by militants on social media show a training camp in the mountain of eastern Afghanistan, where an ISIL ‘province’ spans the border with Pakistan. The group’s self-declared Khorasan province is in the area of Afghanistan that was once al-Qaeda’s heartland.
Radical groups, including the Haqqani network and factions of the Taliban, have declared allegiance to ISIL.
Most of the self-declared ISL groups in Afghanistan are believed to be made up of disaffected Taliban members who have pledged allegiance to Baghdadi, often fro propaganda or fundraising purposes. Formal links with the ISIL leadership in Syria and Iraq have been difficult to prove,
The Sunday Telegraph
said.
The Times
reported on December 5 that up to 1,600 fighters are involved with the surge, which is driven by ISILs regional affiliate, Wilayat Khorasan.
The Afghan army are reportedly struggling to contain the threat amid heavy personnel losses and daily battle; with up to 500 personnel deaths per month.
Tens of thousands of villagers have fled their communities in a bid to escape the advancing threat.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon said that the US government is aware of the group’s growing presence in Afghanistan, telling
The Times
: “We are aware of the presence of ISIL-affiliated militants in Afghanistan, and we are monitoring closely to see whether their emergence will have a meaningful impact on the threat environment in the region.”
