The Islamic State Have Defeated The Taliban In Capturing Osama Bin Laden's Former Fortress In Tora Bora

New York Times: ISIS Captures Tora Bora, Once Bin Laden’s Afghan Fortress

KABUL, Afghanistan — Tora Bora, the mountain redoubt that was once Osama bin Laden’s fortress, fell to the Islamic State early Wednesday, handing the extremists a significant strategic and symbolic victory, according to Afghan officials and local elders and residents.

Taliban fighters who had previously controlled the extensive cave and tunnel complex fled overnight after a determined, weeklong assault by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, according to villagers fleeing the area on Wednesday.

Hazrat Ali, a member of Parliament and a prominent warlord from the area who helped the Americans capture Tora Bora from Al Qaeda in 2001, said that the offensive was prompted by the American decision to drop the so-called mother of all bombs on an Islamic State network of tunnels in Achin District in April. The 20,000-pound bomb was thought to be the largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed.

The Islamic State then decided to shift its refuge to the Tora Bora caves and tunnels, Mr. Ali said. “Some 1,000 ISIS militants were gathered close to Tora Bora, to capture the area,” Mr. Ali said. “I informed government forces to target them, and I told them they are trying to capture Tora Bora, but they did not pay attention.”

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WNU Editor: This is a huge symbolic victory for the Islamic State .... and (equally) a huge shock to both the Taliban and the Afghan government.

Reports Of More Deadly Clashes Between The Taliban And The Islamic State In Afghanistan

Map showing the Kot and Deh Bala districts in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan.

Long War Journal: Taliban and Islamic State clash in eastern Afghanistan

The Islamic State’s Wilayah Khorasan (or Khorasan province) claimed gains at the Taliban’s expense earlier today. The two sides clashed in the Chaparhar district of Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, where they have fought each other repeatedly during the past two years.

A “number of soldiers of the caliphate in Wilayah Khorasan set out at dawn yesterday towards positions of the apostate Taliban in the area of Chaparhar,” the Islamic State claimed in a statement released via social media. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s followers added that they used “light and heavy” weapons during the “violent clashes,” killing 10 Taliban members and capturing three others. After allegedly forcing the Taliban’s men to flee the area, the self-declared caliphate’s “mujahidin” recovered spoils, including a “machine guns,” “cannons” and “other weapons,” as well as ammunition.

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More News On Reports Of Clashes Between The Taliban And The Islamic State In Afghanistan

IS Says It Has Captured E. Afghan District From Taliban -- VOA
Scores killed in ISIS and Taliban clash in Nangarhar province -- Khaama Press
Taliban Insurgents Kill 27 Daesh Militants in Eastern Afghanistan -- Sputnik
ISIS attacks Taliban camp in Afghanistan: 31 killed -- News.Az

Islamic State Assassinates Key Taliban Leader In Pakistan

Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan

Reuters: Islamic State kills senior Afghan Taliban official in Pakistan: militants

Islamic State killed a senior Afghan Taliban official in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, the Afghan militants said on Saturday, in a rare clash between the rival Islamist groups inside Pakistan.

Afghan Taliban sources told Reuters Maulvi Daud was killed on the outskirts of Peshawar with two other men on Thursday. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed Daud's death.

The Islamic State on Friday claimed responsibility for "assassination of a Taliban leader" a day earlier, without naming him, through the group's affiliated news agency AMAQ.

The Islamic State, which at one point controlled huge chunks of territory across Syria and Iraq, has made some inroads into Afghanistan but the group has met tough resistance from the Taliban as well as U.S. and Afghan special forces.

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Previous Post: The Islamic State Is Waging War Against The Taliban In Afghanistan (April 26, 2017).

Update #1: Senior Afghan Taliban Official Killed in Pakistan, ISIS Claims Responsibility -- NBC
Update #2: Senior taliban leader killed in Pakistan -- UPI

WNU Editor: It looks like the Islamic State is now targeting the Afghan Taliban leadership in their safe havens of Pakistan.

Why The Taliban Are Concerned About The Islamic State

ISIS Media

Noah Feldman, Bloomberg: Islamic State Makes the Taliban Nervous

The Taliban's smooth and rapid transition after their acknowledgment of Mullah Omar's death sends a strong message: They are afraid of the potential rise of Islamic State in Afghanistan if they fail to project unity. That reality should be useful to the U.S. government as it tries to negotiate a transition deal with the Afghan government and the Taliban. It's still true that the Taliban can demand something close to de facto control as part of the deal. But now, the Taliban have an incentive to talk that didn't exist before the rise of Islamic State. They have something to lose if the country devolves into congeries of competing warlord-controlled territories.

The man who will replace Omar, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, was Omar's deputy and has been effectively leading the Taliban since Omar's death, and perhaps before that. His selection seems to suggest that the Haqqani Network, a faction that has gradually become powerful enough to rival the Quetta Shura within the Taliban, was willing to compromise on leadership, rather than pressing for Omar's son, whom the Haqqanis were rumored to favor.

WNU Editor: The Taliban leadership should be concerned .... the Islamic State is expanding and growing .... the Taliban are not that successful .... nor does it appear that they will be in the near future.