Instructors from the American-led coalition worked with Iraqi soldiers during a live ammunition exercise last week at the Besmaya military base south of Baghdad. The emergence of Islamic State affiliates in various countries has prompted a new American approach. Credit Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters
New York Times: U.S. Broadens Fight Against ISIS With Attacks in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — The United States has carried out at least a dozen operations — including commando raids and airstrikes — in the past three weeks against militants in Afghanistan aligned with the Islamic State, expanding the Obama administration’s military campaign against the terrorist group beyond Iraq and Syria.
The operations followed President Obama’s decision last month to broaden the authority of American commanders to attack the Islamic State’s new branch in Afghanistan. The administration — which has been accused by Republicans of not having a strategy to defeat the group — is revamping plans for how it fights the terrorist organization in regions where it has developed affiliates.
Many of these recent raids and strikes in Afghanistan have been in the Tora Bora region of Nangarhar Province — an inhospitable, mountainous area in the eastern part of the country, near the border with Pakistan. It was in Tora Bora that Osama bin Laden and other senior Qaeda militants took refuge during the American-led invasion in 2001, and eventually evaded capture by slipping into Pakistan.
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WNU Editor: The Islamic State is going out of its way to promote their presence in Afghanistan .... Islamic State joins others in training children for jihad in Afghanistan (Long War Journal) .... so the U.S. is responding. This is also impacting the U.S. decision on withdrawing soldiers from Afghanistan .... which now appears to be on hold .... Obama unlikely to pull troops from Afghanistan before leaving office (Washington Times).
1 comment:
Take it with a grain of salt. There have been no US combat deaths in this area for a long time.
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