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Afghanistan: Daesh (ISIS), Taliban clashes continue in Nangarhar, seven more Taliban killed

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Seven Taliban militants have been killed during clashes with the rival group of Daesh in eastern Nangarhar province.

The clashes erupted in Chel Dara, Morgi and Wadichar areas of Shirzad District yesterday afternoon and continued until midnight.

Mashouq, the governor of Shirzad District said that Haqyar, a Taliban commander, was among the seven fighters of Taliban killed during the clashes.

According to the governor of Shirzad District, Daesh group has also sufferred casualties but he did not have a specific number.

Taliban spokesman confirms the clash but rejects reports of losing fighters.

Both the Taliban and the newly emerged group of Daesh under the name of Khorasaan have annouced Jihad against each other.

As per the recent reports, Daesh killed ten fighters of Taliban including a commander who had rejoined the group after separating ways with Daesh, also in Nangarhar province.

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Afghanistan: 94 talibans killed in ANSF military operations

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At least 94 insurgents have been killed in a series of coordinated operations over the past 24 hours by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement on Monday.

In addition, 49 other insurgents were injured and six arrested.

The operations were conducted in Takhar, Kunduz, Badakhshan, Sar-e-Pul, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Logar, Khost, Kunar, Paktiya, Herat, Badghis and Helmand provinces, the statement said.

“During the same 24 hour period, Afghan National Police discovered and defused 42 different types of IEDs placed by enemies of Afghanistan for destructive activities in Ghor, Nimroz and Helmand provinces,” it said.

The MoI, however, did not comment on whether any security force members were injured during the operations.

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Iran providing weapons, funds to Taliban to counter Islamic State in Afghanistan

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Fears over the rise of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan are spawning some unlikely alliances in the region. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, which cited Afghan and U.S. officials, Iran — a Shiite powerhouse currently engaged in proxy and direct wars with several Sunni states and groups — is now providing weapons, ammunition and funds to the Taliban.

“Iran supplies us with whatever we need,” a Taliban commander named Abdullah told the Journal, claiming that he was approached by an Iranian intelligence official during his detention in the country. “He asked me how much money I made, and that he would double my salary if I went to work for them [Iranians] in Afghanistan.”

Abdullah claimed that the Taliban were receiving weapons such as 82mm mortars, light machine guns, AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and materials for making roadside bombs from Iran. These weapons are allegedly shipped into Afghanistan through the common border between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Journal reported. Toward this end, the drawdown of U.S. troops from Afghanistan has also helped smugglers, who can now cross the porous border undetected.

Shia-majority Iran and the Sunni militant group Taliban have long been foes and almost came to a full-blown war in 1998 when Iran deployed more than 70,000 troops along the Afghan border in response to the killing of its diplomats. The Iranian officials were allegedly killed by the Taliban, which was then in complete control of the Afghan government. A full-scale conflict in the region was prevented only after the United Nations intervened.

However, recent reports have hinted at the formation of an alliance between the two ideological foes, spurred by the rise of a common enemy in eastern Afghanistan.

“Iran seeks to counter Daesh [ISIS] with the Taliban,” an unnamed Afghan security official told the Journal. ISIS, which currently controls regions in Syria and Iraq, has the potential to unite splintered militant groups in Afghanistan under a common banner, Nicholas Haysom, the U.N. envoy to Afghanistan, warned in March. Earlier in January, local militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan had released a video, claiming that several groups from the two countries had pledged their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of ISIS.

“Iran is betting on the re-emergence of the Taliban,” a Western diplomat, whose name was not revealed, told the Journal. “They are uncertain about where Afghanistan is heading right now, so they are hedging their bets.”

However, while Iran, which is already battling ISIS in Iraq and Syria, might have justifications in building closer ties with the Taliban, the move pits it directly against the United States. Iran and the U.S. are currently attempting to negotiate a nuclear deal, which, if successful, would bring billions of dollars in sanctions relief.

“Across the region, Iran is stepping up its support for militants and rebel groups,” Ed Royce (R., Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Journal. “With billions in sanctions relief coming, that support goes into overdrive.”

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5 Malaysian terrorists in Basilan suspected to be ISIS members

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At least five Malaysian terrorists who are reportedly in Basilan are suspected to be members of the extremist jihadists Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
A report by Jun Veneracion aired on GMA News TV’s News to Go, security analyst Professor Rommel Banlaoi said he has received information from his Malaysian intelligence contacts that the five terrorists are hiding in Mindanao after fighting in Syria and Iraq.
“[They were] trained by ISIS and fought in Syria and Iraq, and they are already hiding in Mindanao,” he said. “The presence of the five Malaysians in the Philippines indicate that ISIS presence in the country is not imagined.”
He added that the five arrived in the country in 2014.
The television report said the Armed Forces of the Philippines has confirmed the presence of the five Malaysian terrorists in Basilan.
However, it denied that the five are confirmed ISIS members.
The AFP said four of the terrorists are identified as Ustadz Ahmad, Hadji Jama, Ustadz Kadir, and Ustadz Kamal. They have yet to identify the fifth one.
An unnamed military intelligence officer said the five are called “local ISIS” by other terrorists in the area although there has been no confirmation that they are members of the international ISIS.
Meanwhile, the same report quoted AFP public affairs chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc as saying that they would be making an announcement once they confirm the presence of ISIS in the country.
“Natatanggap natin na may reports nga na diumano’y may ISIS na members dito, hindi natin maisantabi ang mga speculation na ‘yon dahil sa presensya ng armed conflict dahil ginagamit ito ng ISIS,” he said. “Ang armed conflict, uulitin ko, wala siyang proof as of now.”
In October 2014, a student in Zamboanga City said members of ISIS were recruiting students from a university there.
The student from Western Mindanao State University said ISIS has been recruiting students for two months, adding that each recruit would be given P70,000.
A spokesman for the BIFF said, however, that is is not sending fighters to Syria nor is it recruiting members for the ISIS, which is also called the Islamic State.
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ISIS would need ‘foreign hand’ to rise in Afghanistan

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The rise of the Islamic State in Afghanistan would threaten neighboring Russia and China, but it won’t be possible without the jihadist group receiving foreign backing, Hamid Karzai, former Afghan president, told RT’s Worlds Apart show.

Islamic State (IS), called Daesh in Arabic, is “quite alien” to Afghanistan, former President Karzai said when asked how much of a threat he thinks jihadists pose to his country.

Reports earlier this week suggested that between 10 and 12 Taliban fighters had been beheaded by the Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL) in the Nangarhar province, at the border with Pakistan. The region is believed to be one of a key targets for jihadists as the organization looks to seize even more territories, adding Afghanistan to taken lands in Iraq and Syria.

However, Karzai believes that IS expansion into Afghanistan would not be possible “without a foreign hand, without a foreign backing.”

But should this happen, “it will only be to go further to Central Asia, to hurt China, to hurt Russia.”

“So, if you hear ever in the coming days, or months, or years that Daesh is on the rise in Afghanistan, and is strong and expanding militarily, it will mean that it is a foreign-backed force intending to destabilize the region, particularly Central Asia, China and Russia,” he added.

Karzai put the blame for the rapid expansion of IS on “foreign interference” in Iraq and Syria saying that it was all “the result of events” there.

Karzai once again criticized the US and its allies for interfering in Afghanistan, saying that the declared war on terror lasted over a decade “without the results that we all expected.”

“Unfortunately, the Afghans suffered heavily in this war on terror, and terrorism and extremism rather than being defeated, or reduced, or eliminated, is steadily and widely on the rise. We have more radicalism today than we ever had before. We have more extremism than we ever had before,” he said.

The ex-president also addressed Washington, urging it to “explain to the world whether they have failed in the war on terror, or if the war on terror has gone out of hand.”

The 57-year-old politician stressed that during his presidency he was unhappy with many aspects of the US’s behavior in Afghanistan, which was always a “strong point of disagreement” between Kabul and Washington.

While the Americans and “the world” knew “that the sanctuaries, the training grounds, the motivation factors for terrorism lay beyond Afghanistan, and they told us repeatedly that they were in Pakistan,” the US troops still bombed Afghan villages and imprisoned Afghan people, Karzai stressed.

According to Karzai, the problems with the US war on terror in Afghanistan is explained by the fact the Americans didn’t want to side with either the Afghan government forces or the Taliban.

“I very much believe there was a policy of duality; that they were running with the hare and hunting with the hound. And that’s why there were these failures, and that’s why there was this suffering for the Afghan people, and also for the Americans,” he said.

Yet, Karzai did not rule out that peace between Afghanistan and the US is possible. However, for this to happen, Washington should change its strategic thinking in the war on terror and give up on this duality, he added.

At the same time, Karzai, who was Afghan leader from 2004-2014, also supported the idea of talks with the Taliban, who he referred to as “our brothers”, “who are from Afghanistan”.

He stressed that the peace process in the country is also hampered by foreign influence.

“I know for a fact for so many years that those Taliban do want to come back to Afghanistan, but they don’t have the ability collectively to do that because there are other forces in this region, including… the Pakistani military and intelligence that is stopping them from doing that,” he explained.

Karzai remains an important figure in Afghanistan after his resignation and has been trying to use his international connections to help the struggling state.

He visited India for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May and is expected to arrive in Moscow later this month for a series of meetings, including with President Vladimir Putin.

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Iran reportedly stepping up shipments of arms, cash to Taliban

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The Iranian government reportedly has stepped up shipments of weapons and money to the Taliban in Afghanistan in recent months.

According to The Wall Street Journal, which cited Afghan and Western officials in its report, Iran’s motivations for stepping up support for the militants are to prevent ISIS from gaining a foothold in Afghanistan and providing a check on U.S. influence ahead of the planned withdrawal of most American troops by the end of 2016.

The report quotes a Taliban fighter as saying that the militants receive weapons from smugglers paid by Iran’s government who traffic the contraband through the remote border region where Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan meet. Among the weapons Taliban units allegedly receive are mortars, machine guns, rifles, and rocket-propelled grenades.

Iran has repeatedly denied providing financial or military aid to the Taliban. No Iranian officials immediately commented on the Journal’s report.

Republican critics of ongoing negotiations between Western powers and Tehran over the future of Iran’s nuclear program say that Iran’s support for the Taliban, Hezbollah, and other militant groups in the Middle East would only increase thanks to the possibility of relief from sanctions have throttled the country’s economy.

“This is further evidence of the administration’s continued willful disregard for the facts on the ground in light of Iranian aggression in the region,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told the Journal.

According to the paper, a report compiled by the Pentagon in October of last year says that Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps have been delivering weapons to the Taliban since at least 2007. The relationship between Tehran and the Taliban solidified in the summer of 2013 when a Taliban delegation was invited to participate in a conference on Islam.

For the past two years, Afghan officials and the Taliban fighter tell the Journal, Iran has been operating training camps for Taliban inside its territory. At least four of the camps are currently operating.

In at least one case, Iran is even supplying fighters for the Taliban by turning to Afghan immigrants who fled to Iran to escape Afghanistan’s ongoing turmoil. One of them, the Taliban fighter quoted in the report, says he was approached by an Iranian intelligence officer after being detained for working as an illegal laborer.

“At the beginning Iran was supporting [the] Taliban financially,” a senior Afghan official tells the Journal. “But now they are training and equipping them, too.”

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Russian forces launch ‘counter-terrorism’ operation in Dagestan

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A “counter-terrorism” operation has been launched by military forces in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus region of Dagestan.

The operation was launched early in the morning on Thursday across the Suleiman-Stalsky district of Dagestan, according to an operation spokesman from the headquarters of the forces involved in the task.

The spokesman, whose name was not mentioned in Russian media reports, said that a number of military units “are working to track down gang members and their accomplices.”

The operation comes after several laboratories – used to make bombs, specifically improvised explosives – were reportedly found in the area where the mission was being carried out.

It also comes less than a week after a militant suspected of working with the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group was killed by police in Dagestan.

Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said on Saturday that the individual, identified as Suleiman Zainalobinov, was killed on Saturday.

It was reported earlier in June that a university student in Moscow, who was purportedly planning to join the ranks of ISIL, was detained on the Turkish-Syrian border region.

The ISIL Takfiri terrorists, many of whom were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 in an attempt to destabilize the Syrian government, now control parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq. They have been engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.

The UN has recently said that 25,000 terrorists from more than 100 countries have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join such terrorist groups as ISIL and the al-Qaeda-affiliate al-Nusra Front.

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Afghanistan: 30 arab insurgents killed in air strike

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At least 30 Arab insurgents were killed in a foreign forces air strike in Paktika province, the official provincial media office said in a statement.

According to the statement 30 Arab mine makers were killed in an air strike in Khoshamand district of Paktika.

In a separate foreign air strike in Yusuf Khel district of the province at least another two insurgents were killed, the statement said.

No information on civilian casualties from the air strikes was released. The Taliban have yet to comment on the air strikes.

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110 talibans killed in Afghan military operations

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At least 110 insurgents have been killed and 52 others injured in a series of coordinated operations over the past 24 hours by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said in a statement.

The operations were conducted in Kapisa, Kabul, Khost, Paktia, Paktika, Uruzgan, Badghis, Daikondi, Badakhshan, Sar-e-Pol, Kunduz, Kandahar, Helmand and Ghazni provinces, the statement said.

“Also, during these operations, Afghan National Police discovered and confiscated light and heavy rounds of ammunition,” it said.

During the operations eight Afghan security force soldiers were killed, the statement added.

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