A top leader of the loyalists of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group was killed along with at least 43 other militants in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the militants were killed during the joint military operations conducted by the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.

MoD further added that the operations were conducted in Pacher Agam district of Nangarhar and Deh Bala.

According to MoD, a shadow judge of the terror group was among those killed and has been identified as Muftauddin.

In the meantime, the provincial police commandment, said over 30 militants of the terror group were killed and several weapons and ammunition were destroyed.

The loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group have not commented regarding the report so far.

The ISIS loyalists have been attempting to gain foothold in the strategic Pacher Agam district in a bid to expand their presence and operations in this province.

The deputy house speaker of the Afghan parliament Zahir Qadir earlier  warned that the loyalists of the terror group are attempting to establish the Khurasan Caliphate in Afghanistan and are busy expanding their presence in some of the difficult terrains of the country.

Speaking during a session of the parliament late last month, Qadir warned that the group will become successful in establishing the caliphate if they managed to seize control of Tora Bora in Nangarhar.

He said the loyalists of the terror group have managed to take control of a strategic area in Pacher Agam district.

According to Qadir, the area is a few hundred meters away from Tora Bora and the loyalists of the terror group will become successful if their attempts if they managed to expand foothold in Tora Bora.

khaama.com

On November 21, an Islamist terrorist entered the Shia Muslim Baqir ul-Uloom mosque in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. He detonated his explosive-laden suicide vest, killing 30 people and wounding over 70.

Afghanistan’s Taliban militant organization denied responsibility for the attack. However, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria claimed credit for the slaughter, touting it in a press release.

The terror attack incited anger and provoked fear throughout Afghanistan. Even headline writers for Western media outlets understood that dimension. The carnage and human suffering was evident and targeting worshippers in a mosque stirred curiosity. Voice of America published an article that said the mosque attack “is yet another indicator” of ISIS’ “expanding terror activities” in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It is that. It was also the second major attack by ISIS on an Afghan Shia shrine. In October, ISIS gunmen attacked Kabul’s Karte Sakhi cemetery shrine and killed 19 Shiites.

The twin attacks on Shiites confirm a larger context illustrating in miniature the Obama Administration’s ill-disciplined, shortsighted and always politically self-serving approach to fighting the global war on militant Islamist terrorists.

Recall the compact disc Iraqi Kurds snagged in early 2004. The disc contained a strategic assessment penned by infamous Jordanian al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Part of the text asserted that al-Qaida radicals “are failing to enlist support” inside Iraq and “have been unable to scare the Americans into leaving.” It lamented Iraq’s “lack of mountains in which to take refuge” — a major terrain difference with between Iraq and Afghanistan.

The document then offered a strategic solution to al-Qaeda’s failure in Iraq: attack Iraqi Shias and start a “sectarian war” that will “rally the Sunni Arabs” to al-Qaida. This war against Shiites “must start soon at “zero hour,'” Zarqawi wrote, “before the Americans hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis.”

After Iraqis run their own government, U.S. troops will remain, the document says, “but the sons of this land will be the authority … This is the democracy. We will have no pretexts.” Iraq’s new army and police will link with the people “by lineage, blood and appearance.” Al-Qaida fears an American and Iraqi strategic victory — a democracy defending itself against terrorists.

ISIS is attempting to exploit in Afghanistan the same Sunni-Shia Muslim division Zarqawi attacked in Iraq. ISIS seeks to ignite a Sunni-Shia sectarian war. That war, once ignited, will produce further anarchy within Afghanistan and create the perception of hopelessness in in the U.S. and western European states invested in stabilizing Afghanistan.

It appears the Taliban want to avoid a sectarian war with Afghan Shias. The Taliban are a radical Sunni militant movement but are also an ethnic Pashtun movement, which means they understand accommodating other tribes and ethnic groups. But upsides have downsides. ISIS is targeting the Taliban’s dual identities. Murdering Shias positions ISIS as the “pure” Sunni militant movement.

It’s the “we’re more militant than thou” game played by radicals everywhere.

ISIS is probably responsible for other recent suicide bomb attacks in Afghanistan, including one on the U.S. airbase at Bagram. Meanwhile, at least some Taliban openly advocate negotiations with the Afghan government and the U.S. This Taliban faction wants to become an independent Afghani political movement and demonstrate that it isn’t a creature of allegiance to Pakistani intelligence.

ISIS perceives a political opportunity. It would become the leading militant Islamic movement in Afghanistan.

Now return to Zarqawi’s letter. Zarqawi assumed U.S. forces would remain in Iraq and nurture Iraq’s democracy. American forces, unfortunately, did not. In the face of common sense, President Barack Obama withdrew them. He was wedded to the narrative that he would bring peace to Iraq.

With U.S. forces gone, ISIS exploited Iraqi weaknesses, murdering hundreds of thousands of people in the process.

The U.S. has not left Afghanistan — not quite. However, President Obama is perceived as weak. He failed to demonstrate spine. Obama’s weakness has damaged the entire U.S. effort. The U.S. commitment to Afghanistan is perceived as frail.

Afghanistan has lots of mountains. If ISIS flees from Iraq, will Afghanistan become its haven?

townhall.com/

At least nine people were killed and seven others wounded in cross-border fire which hit a Pakistani bus in disputed Kashmir, officials said.

Incident took place in Nagdar village in Pakistani-held Kashmir’s scenic Neelum Valley, Pakistan’s (Dawn) news reported.

Indian troops hit a passenger coaster with small and big arms in the town of Lawat, killing nine passengers and injuring 11 others,” said Jamil Mir, superintendent of police in Neelum Valley.

The coaster was on its way to Muzaffarabad. Lawat is located some 90 kilometres northeast of Muzaffarabad in the upper belt of valley that straddles the restive Line of Control (LoC).

In a separate incident of Indian shelling in Nakyal, one person was killed and six others injured.

thepeninsulaqatar.com/

An Indian soldier in Kashmir was beheaded and two others killed by Pakistani commandos who crossed the Line of Control at Machil. Just three weeks ago, Sepoy Mandeep Singh was beheaded not far from the spot; the army has, just like then, vowed revenge. “Retribution will be heavy for this cowardly act,” the army said in a statement.

The intruders, believed to be from the Border Action Team of the Pakistan army, have allegedly escaped. In the Machil sector, Indian posts are closer to Pakistan and the rugged terrain and thicker forests gives infiltrators an advantage.

Last month, terrorists mutilated the body of 27-year-old Mandeep Singh before running back into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, under cover fire provided by the Pakistan army.
The army said the incident reflected barbarism in official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan and asserted, “the incident will be responded to appropriately.”

Seventeen soldiers have died in firing from Pakistan in less than a month. There has been a spurt in ceasefire violations since the September surgical strikes, when Indian soldiers crossed over the Line of Control and destroyed staging areas for terrorists who were getting ready to enter India to carry out a series of attacks.

The strikes were seen as India’s response to the Uri attack in which 19 soldiers were killed by terrorists from Pakistan.

ndtv.com

At least 45 others were wounded in the attack at the Baqir-ul Ulom mosque in western Kabul, the public health ministry said

28 people have been killed after a suicide bomber struck inside a Shiite mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul, officials said.

At least 45 others were wounded in the attack at the Baqir-ul Ulom mosque in western Kabul, the public health ministry said.

The attacker was on foot and detonated his suicide vest among the crowds inside the mosque, said Faredoon Obiadi, head of the criminal investigation department for Kabul police.

The attack took place on the first floor of the two-storey building where Shiite worshippers had gathered to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson and a Shiite martyr, in Karbala, Iraq, in 680 AD.

“I was inside the mosque and the Mullah was reading the prayer, suddenly a huge explosion happened then everywhere was dark,” said Ewaz Ali, 50, who suffered minor injuries.

No group has yet claimed responsibility but militant Sunni fundamentalists such as the Taliban and Islamic State view Shiites as apostates and frequently attack Shiite mosques and public gatherings.

Monday’s bombing struck a ceremony commemorating 40 days since the anniversary of Hussein’s death.

In early October, at a gathering commemorating the actual death anniversary, militants attacked another Shiite shrine in Kabul, killing 14.

Shiites in Afghanistan make up an estimated 15% of the population of around 30 million.

Their public celebrations and commemorations were largely banned during the five years when the Taliban controlled the country.

But Afghanistan’s Shiites have become more public since the extremists were overthrown in the US invasion of 2001.

wharf.co.uk

14 Pakistani nationals have reached Afghanistan and Syria to join Daesh and fight along with it, sources said on Sunday.

These 14 Pakistani nationals reached Syria and Afghanistan two weeks ago.

It was revealed that the major recruitments were done from Islamabad and Punjab’s big cities, sources said.

The Pakistani nationals also include females who volunteered, sources added.

According to sources, Qari Abid in Syria lured the citizens into the proscribed organisation through social media and later made them contact his nephew Nabeel Ahmed.

Those who were prepared to join were then sent to Syria and Afghanistan, sources informed.

On Nov 17, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested eight suspected terrorists from Lahore over attempts to lure people into Daesh.

A CTD spokesperson said that the suspected terrorists were involved in sending people to Afghanistan and Syria. The CTD also recovered literature and other things from the suspected terrorists’ possession.

pakistantoday.com.pk

Thirty-two Sri Lankans have joined the extremist ideological movement ‘Islamic State’ (IS), Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapaksha said.

He said during the budget debate in Parliament today, that there would be no more room in Sri Lanka for religious extremism.

dailynews.lk

Several Taliban militants launched a coordinated attack on police headquarters in Bakwa district in Farah on Thursday night, leaving almost 13 Afghan police force members dead, local officials said on Friday.

Security chief at Farah Police Headquarters, Mohammad Ghaws Malyar, confirmed the incident and said a group of Taliban fighters entered the headquarters on Thursday night, killed 13 policemen and took away their weapons.

Meanwhile, a number of Bakwa residents said the Taliban had breached a number of government offices in the district, took away their facilities and destroyed some of the state buildings.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that three police force members joined the insurgent group following the attack.

tolonews.com

Afghanistan Ministry of Interior (MoI) says nearly 70 percent of Afghanistan’s drug-trafficking controls by those Taliban leaders who are in Pakistan.

Spokesman of MoI stated that the ministry has arrested more than 1500 drug traffickers in the past six months.

“There is a close relationship between the drug-dealers and Taliban leaders. According to the information of Special Forces, nearly 70 percent of drug-trafficking controls by Taliban who are in Pakistan’s soil. And there is no sign that Pakistan fights against narcotics,” said Sidiq Sidiqi, MoI spokesman.

In the meantime, spokesman of MoI says the Afghan forces start ‘Shafaq’ operation in winter offensive and the armed Taliban group will suffer heavy causalities.

“Our operation in Faryab caused the Taliban’s shadow district governor to be killed and we get ready for the winter offensive,” Sidiqi added.

While concerns expressed over Taliban’s recruiting process reaches to the other provinces.

“Now, the enemy has influence in the cities and the Afghan forces must be more focused on cities and thwart threats in the winter season,” said Merza Muhammad Tarmand, former deputy of MoI.

Afghan security forces called the drug tracking a serious threat against the security of the country as the opium and poppy cultivation has hit a high record during the past year.

ariananews.af/