The Afghan security forces retook the control of Khwaja Omari district in Ghazni province almost a year after it fell into the hands of Taliban militants, like reported by khaama.com.

The Ministry of Defense (MoI) announced earlier today that the security forces have recaptured Khwaja Omari district.

The defense ministry also added that Taliban were in control of the district for the past one year.

The acting minister of defense Asadullah Khalid had earlier vowed that the security forces would recapture all districts and areas which have fallen into the hands of Taliban.

The Afghan forces retook the control of the restive Deh Yak district of Ghazni during a similar operation late last month.

Meanwhile, the ministry of defense has not disclosed further information regarding the operation.

It is yet not clear if the militants and security personnel have suffered casualties during the operation or not.

Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, the Kashmir cell of Al-Qaeda, has claimed to have appointed a new chief to succeed Zakir Musa, who was killed in an encounter with security forces two weeks ago, The Times of India reported. Thirty-year-old Hameed Lelhari is a native of Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir and a member of Islamist organisation Jamait-Ahl-e-Hadith, like reported by scroll.in.

In a video released on Wednesday, a spokesperson of the Al-Qaeda affiliate claimed that Lelhari had replaced Musa and Ghazi Ibrahim Khalid was appointed his deputy commander. The video was released by the affiliate’s media wing Al Hurr.

Lelhari earlier served as Musa’s deputy after they split from the Hizbul Mujahideen and swore allegiance to Al-Qaeda in July 2017. Unidentified police officials confirmed to The Times of India that he had taken over the affiliate but said he is “hardly a top terrorist”. They confirmed the veracity of the video, but were not aware about his deputy’s identity and background.

Another unidentified senior government official told The Economic Times that the militant group might have links with Pakistan.

“Pakistan has been using proxies to stoke trouble in the Valley,” the official said. “Though the group claims its affiliation to the al-Qaeda, their links with Pakistan-based militants cannot be ruled out.”

Last month, Musa was killed in an encounter with security forces in a village in Tral area of Pulwama district. Officials had said efforts were made to convince Musa to surrender but he allegedly threw grenades at them, which led to the encounter. Sporadic protests and shutdowns have continued in the Valley after Musa’s killing.

Musa was a former Hizbul Mujahideen commander and the chief of the Al-Qaeda’s Kashmir cell. He joined militancy in 2013 and came to the limelight after security forces killed militant Burhan Wani in 2016.

The Afghan security forces have rescued 83 people from a Taliban prison in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan, like reported by khaama.com.

The 209th Shaheen Corps in a statement said the Afghan forces conducted the operation in Shakh area of Qaisar district.

The statement further added that the foreign forces also supported the Afghan armed forces during the operation.

The Afghan forces transferred the freed hostages to Maimana airport, the 209th Shaheen Corps added.

Furthermore, the Afghan forces arrested ten foreign ISIS members who had defected to Taliban in Darzab district last year.

The security forces also killed three prison guards of Taliban and arrested three others during the operation.

As America approaches the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, we also approach the 18th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, like reported by townhall.com.

U.S. forces are still there. So are the Taliban and Al Qaida — and a growing branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

From January through March 2019, according to the latest report from the lead inspector general for Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, four Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan.

“On October 7, 2001, the United States launched combat operations under Operation Enduring Freedom to topple the Taliban regime and eliminate al Qaeda,” the inspector general explained in a brief historical summary of the war.

“The Taliban regime fell quickly and U.S. officials declared an end to major combat operations on May 1, 2003,” said the summary.

Then the democracy building started.

“Subsequently, the United States and international coalition partners continued to work with the Afghan government to build democratic institutions in the country,” the inspector general explained.

“However, as the new Afghan government developed, the Taliban regrouped and launched increasingly deadly attacks to recapture lost territory,” said the inspector general.

U.S. Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) provided the inspector general with estimates of how many fighters the Taliban and various terrorist groups now have in Afghanistan. But these estimates, it said, were made with “low confidence.”

“USFOR-A told the DOD OIG that it estimated the Taliban has 20,000 to 30,000 fighters in Afghanistan,” the report said. “An additional 10,000-25,000 fighters periodically join the Taliban for attacks, though only a portion of them are fighting at any given time.”

“USFOR-A estimated, with low confidence, that there are as many as 5,000 ISIS-K (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Khorasan) fighters and 300 al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan,” said the report.

The State Department’s latest report on human rights in Afghanistan describes some of what these “fighters” were doing in 2018.

“The Taliban and other insurgents continued to kill security force personnel and civilians using indiscriminate tactics such as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), suicide attacks, and rocket attacks, and to commit disappearances and torture,” said the State Department.

“The Taliban and ISIS-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) used children as suicide bombers, soldiers, and weapons carriers,” it said.

“In some areas the Taliban enforced a parallel judicial system based on a strict interpretation of sharia,” it said. “Punishments included execution and mutilation.”

“On June 4, ISIS-K targeted a gathering of religious scholars in Kabul with a suicide bombing, killing 14 after the scholars issued a religious declaration condemning suicide attacks,” said the report.

“On January 20, the Taliban attacked the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, killing 42, including 17 foreign nationals,” said the State Department.

Led by Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. government is now negotiating a “peace deal” with the Taliban.

“On January 28, Ambassador Khalilzad announced that the United States and the Taliban had reached an ‘agreement in principle’ on four elements necessary for a peace settlement: counterterrorism assurances, troop withdrawal, intra-Afghan dialogue, and a comprehensive ceasefire,” said the inspector general’s report.

“In March, Ambassador Khalilzad stated that the two sides were ‘agreed in draft’ on the first two elements,” said the inspector general.

This apparently means the U.S. government is ready to trust the Taliban to prevent terrorists from finding sanctuary in Afghanistan after U.S. troops withdraw.

“On preventing terrorist safe haven in Afghanistan, Ambassador Khalilzad stated in a media interview that ‘(t)he Taliban have committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that (sic) would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals,'” said the inspector general’s report.

In the meantime, the U.S. has stopped targeting the Taliban’s drug business.

The inspector general’s report for October through December 2018 said, “In 2017, U.S. and Afghan forces launched an air and ground campaign, called Operation Iron Tempest, to target Taliban narcotics sites.”

“At that time,” it said, “USFOR-A estimated there were 400-500 drug labs in Afghanistan that produced $200 million per year in revenue for the Taliban.”

“During the quarter, however, the U.S. military ended this campaign,” the inspector general said.

“Narcotics production in Afghanistan remained at elevated levels,” it said.

Al Qaida, according to the latest inspector general report, is now “among the smaller terrorist groups in Afghanistan.”

“USFOR-A assessed that al Qaeda poses ‘a limited, indirect threat’ to U.S. and allied forces through the support it provides for the Taliban and Haqqani Network attacks,” said the report. “Specifically, al Qaeda runs training camps, helps plan and fund attacks, and creates and disseminates propaganda highlighting attacks by other groups.”

“Al Qaeda remains dependent on the Taliban for safe haven, facilitation routes, and supply networks, according to USFOR-A’s assessment,” it says.

It is worth remembering that when the United States delivered justice to Osama bin Laden, he was in Pakistan, not Afghanistan. The troops that took him out were not part of an invasion. They were part of a carefully planned surgical strike.

They were not building a nation. They were killing a terrorist.

The ultimate question for the United States in Afghanistan is not “What we can do over there?” but “What is the most effective and prudent way to stop terrorists from coming here?”

The Afghan Special Forces and Air Forces carried out separate operations in south-eastern Khost and Paktika provinces killing at least 14 Taliban militants, like reported by khaama.com.

The military officials said Tuesday that the Afghan Special Forces killed 8 Taliban fighters in Sabari district of Khost.

The officials further added that the Special Forces also detained three Taliban militants.

The Air Forces also conducted an airstrike in Nadir Shah district of Khost killing one Taliban fighter.

Meanwhile, the security forces conducted an airstrike in Gomal district of Paktika province which killed two Taliban fighters.

A vehicle was also destroyed during the same airstrike, the military officials added.

The security forces also conducted two other airstrikes in Gomal district which killed 3 Taliban militants.

The airstrikes also destroyed two vehicles which were in custody of Taliban militants, the military officials said.

The security situation in some districts of both Khost and Paktika provinces remain tense. Taliban militants are active in remote and restive areas of the two provinces.

In the meantime, the Afghan forces are busy conducting counter-terrorism operations against the anti-government armed elements in the two provinces.

Similarly, the U.S. forces also conduct regular airstrikes in restive parts of the country to suppress Taliban and other anti-government militants.

An airstrike has killed a senior leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group in Afghanistan, like reported by khaama.com.

Hailing from India, Rashid Abdullah was the leader of the Kerala module of ISIS terrorist group.

An unidentified ISIS operative has confirmed the killing of Rashid Abdullah by issuing a message in Telegram application.

The airstrikes also killed two other Indians, two women and four children, according to the message obtained by Times of India.

The airstrike was apparently carried out in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

This comes as the security situation in some districts of Nangarhar province has deteriorated during the recent years.

Both Taliban and ISIS militants are active in remote and restive areas of the province.

The anti-government armed elements often attempt to carry out terrorist related activities in Jalalabad city and other parts of Nangarhar.

Meanwhile, the Afghan forces are busy conducting counter-terrorism operations against both groups in this province.

The U.S. forces also conduct regular airstrikes in restive districts of Nangarhar to suppress ISIS, Taliban and other anti-government militants.

During a recent visit to Tajikistan, Russian Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov claimed that around 5,000 militants based in Afghanistan from a group known as Islamic State Khorasan, or IS-K, had been redeployed to the north of the country, near its border with the former Soviet states of Central Asia, like reported by aspistrategist.org.au.

Bortnikov’s statement has been treated with some scepticism, with Moscow accused of exaggerating the threat posed by IS-K to advance its own objectives in the region. But his comments make it timely to revisit the question of whether IS may emerge as a genuine threat not just to Afghanistan but also to the broader Central Asian region.

To date, the states of Central Asia—Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan—have been relatively free of terrorist incidents involving Islamist groups. Between 2008 and mid-2018, 19 attacks categorised as terrorism occurred across the region, resulting in around 140 fatalities. Most of these attacks targeted law enforcement agencies, and regional governments have claimed that they disrupted another 61 attacks during 2016 alone.

IS was involved in several of these events. In July 2018, a group claiming allegiance to IS killed four foreign tourists outside of the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, and in November, Tajik authorities claimed that they had detained 12 suspects with alleged ties to IS who were planning an attack against a Russian military base and school.

However, Central Asians have been disproportionately represented among the foreign-fighter cadre of IS in Syria and Iraq. Estimates of the number of IS’s Central Asian foreign fighters range between 3,000 and 5,000. With the collapse of the IS ‘caliphate’, many of these militants may seek to return home. If a broad fatality rate of one-third is applied to this overall figure, that leaves several thousand IS-aligned Central Asian foreign fighters who might try to return home.

The number of Central Asian foreign fighters tells only part of the story of potential support for IS across the region. The Soufan Group’s 2017 report indicated that while around 500 Kazakh nationals successfully travelled to Syria or Iraq, nearly 2,000 were stopped in Turkey. Similarly, around 1,500 Tajiks successfully travelled to IS territory, but around 3,000 were stopped or turned back in Turkey. Figures for interdictions of other Central Asian nationalities aren’t available, but it appears that the 3,000–5,000 Central Asians who made it to IS territory may have been just a small proportion of those who tried to do so. While there’s evidence that some of them may have been radicalised while working in Russia, high-profile cases such as the former head of Tajikistan’s police special operations who became IS’s ‘war minister’ suggest that IS may have broader appeal in Central Asia.

But it’s unclear how many Central Asian foreign fighters will ultimately seek to return to their countries of origin, and, if they do, whether any of them will remain committed to IS. Estimates from 2018 put the total number of returnees at around 300, and a mass return to Central Asia is seen as unlikely due to the repressive nature of the region’s regimes. However, the figure is likely to have increased significantly following the complete collapse of the IS caliphate.

Many of those who have returned have been jailed, creating additional risks of jail-based radicalisation of other inmates. This problem has proven particularly severe in Tajikistan, where prison riots involving IS members in November 2018 resulted in 50 deaths and in late May 2019 around 32 deaths.

More worrying are indications that IS-K is consolidating and expanding its foothold in Afghanistan, and that it may be doing so by drawing on a reservoir of Central Asian militants, including those returning from the Middle East.

Over the past year, IS-K has reportedly made significant ‘tactical gains’ in Afghanistan and has expanded to between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters, up from 600 in 2017. IS-K has specifically targeted Central Asian foreign fighters in the Middle East for recruitment. Afghanistan is a logical destination for those fighters and also for new recruits from Central Asia given its geographic proximity and ethno-linguistic links.

Also, given that IS-K seeks to establish a new caliphate covering South and Central Asia, it’s also logical that it would recruit Central Asians for its Afghan operations, because they can be used to advance the group’s ambitions across the broader region. IS-K has already called for terrorist attacks against public gatherings in Central Asia and has forged allegiances with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and other key Central Asian terrorist groups, building on its connections with the region.

Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan all share a long mountainous border with Afghanistan. If IS-K were to conduct cross-border forays, those countries’ defence and security services would probably struggle to deal with even a small group of battle-hardened, motivated fighters. Tajikistan—which alone shares with Afghanistan a nearly 1,400-kilometre border—would be particularly susceptible to such incursions.

Fortunately, much of this is still in the realm of conjecture. Despite having enjoyed success in Afghanistan over the past year, IS-K will likely take time to consolidate its gains and may not be ready to widen its theatre of operations. Also, despite IS’s rebranding as a global insurgency, it is yet to be seen whether the IS brand has retained its cachet following its defeat in the Middle East. It’s possible that Central Asia’s IS alumni may turn their backs on the organisation and either throw their support behind rival groups such as al-Qaeda, or abandon jihad altogether.

The combination of a hardening of IS-K’s position in Afghanistan and the unresolved question of the intentions of displaced Central Asian foreign fighters creates a wicked security problem for the region. Given the recent spate of IS-inspired attacks in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, it may be just a matter of time before Central Asia experiences a mass-casualty terrorist attack. The challenges for local policymakers and for external stakeholders such as Russia, the US and China will be to formulate a strategy that manages these risks without encouraging a clampdown from the region’s security services that ultimately proves self-defeating by driving even more people into the arms of fundamentalists.

At least 12 Taliban insurgents including a local commander of the group were killed and six others injured in clashes with the Afghan security forces in Maidan Wardak province, Interior Ministry (MoI) confirmed according to ariananews.af.

In a statement released on Wednesday, MoI said that the incident has taken place en route to Maidan Shahr-Jalrez on Tuesday night.

According to the statement, at least 12 Taliban fighters including a local commander of the group were killed and six others wounded in the incident.

The Taliban commander was identified as Saddam, who was involved in destructive activities at Badam area in Nirkh district of the province.

The Taliban militant group yet to make a comment about the incident.

Maidan Wardak is among the volatile provinces located in the central part of Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgents have a huge presence.

A roadside bombing claimed by the Taliban killed 10 Afghan soldiers in the country’s west while insurgent attacks on security checkpoints in northern Afghanistan killed four policemen, officials said according to shine.cn.

The soldiers were driving back to base after picking up their salaries in the country’s western Farah province. They were traveling in a Humvee when the explosion took place on Sunday afternoon in the Bala Buluk district, said Shah Mahmood Nahimi, a provincial councilman. “The blast was so intense that no one in the Humvee survived,” he added.

Elsewhere, the Taliban targeted several checkpoints in northern Sari Pul province on Sunday night, killing four members of the security forces and wounding 22, according to Zabiullah Amani, the provincial governor’s spokesman.

The attacks took place on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Sari Pul and triggered gunbattles that lasted for hours, he said, adding that 15 Taliban fighters were also killed.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Farah attack in a statement on its website but did not make any announcements about the Sari Pul attack.

Meanwhile, a sticky bomb attached to a minibus carrying government workers in Kabul detonated yesterday morning, wounding 10 people, a police spokesman said.

Arab Haidari, from the religious affairs ministry, said all the wounded are ministry employees who were on their way to work when the explosion took place. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Both the Taliban and Islamic State militants regularly stage attacks in Kabul.

On Sunday, gunmen killed a prominent religious scholar, Mawlavi Shabir Ahmad Kamawi, in Kabul and last week a mosque bombing killed another religious scholar during Friday prayers, also in Kabul.

Attacks have increased recently as US peace envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, presses ahead with talks with the Taliban, who refuse to negotiate directly with the Kabul government.

The talks so far have focused on a timetable for US troop pullout as well as Taliban guarantees that they won’t harbor terrorist groups or allow Afghanistan to be used as a staging ground for global terror attacks.

The Special Forces of the Afghan Intelligence (National Directorate of Security) conducted an operation in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan killing at least 11 ISIS militants, like reported by khaama.com.

“In an Afghan special forces raid in Chapahar district, 11 ISIS-K fighters were killed and numerous weapons were destroyed,” the informed military sources said Monday.

In the meantime, the provincial government media office in a statement said the NDS Special Forces targeted ISIS militants in Aghez and Daudzai areas of Chaparhar district.

The statement further added that the NDS Special Forces killed ISIS military commission chief Dr. Bilal and another ISIS commander Najib alias Abu Bakar.

In addition, the NDS Special Forces destroyed an ISIS compound, night vision goggle, 9 Ak-47 assault rifles, 50 Ak-47 magazines, hand grenades, radio communication sets, and other military kits and explosives.

This comes as the security situation in some remote parts of Nangarhar has deteriorated during the recent years. Both Taliban and ISIS militants are active in some remote districts of the province and often conduct terrorist related activities.