Thursday, June 13, 2019

US Troops Wipe Out a Contingent of Afghan Security Forces With an Airstrike for the Second Time in a Month

Source: Check Point Asia

Not The Onion

by Jason Ditz | 13 Jun 19


For the second time in less than a month, US forces carried out airstrikes “in self defense” in Afghanistan, only to discover that they were actually attacking Afghan security forces. The Wednesday strike ended up wiping out an entire unit, though officials have yet to disclose the exact number of deaths, beyond it apparently being everyone present.

The previous attack saw US ground troops believing they were under fire, and the warplanes attacking police, killing 18. In this case, too, US officials said they believed the troops came under fire, and the airstrikes targeted the Afghan forces, who had been firing machine guns.

Despite all the talk of self defense and US troops being "under effective fire," officials insist not a single US casualty occurred. US officials expressed "regret" for the deaths of Afghan partners.

Please go to Check Point Asia to read the entire article.
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Source: Al Jazeera

ISIL expands its reach in Afghanistan, threatening the West 

ISIL affiliate rises after group's removal from Syria and Iraq, prompting fears of new attacks in the West.

10 Jun 2019

ISIL appeared in Afghanistan shortly after the group's core fighters swept across Syria and Iraq in 2014 [Reuters]

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group is expanding its footprint in Afghanistan "with thousands and thousands" of fighters after losing its so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq.

The armed group is recruiting new soldiers and plotting attacks on the United States and other Western countries, US and Afghan security officials say.

ISIL is seen as an even greater threat than the Taliban because of its increasingly sophisticated military capabilities and its strategy of targeting civilians, both in Afghanistan and abroad. Concerns run so deep that some officials have come to see the Taliban, which has also clashed with ISIL, as a potential partner in containing it.

A US intelligence official based in Afghanistan told The Associated Press that a recent wave of attacks in the capital, Kabul, were "practice runs" for even bigger assaults in Europe and the US.

"This group is the most near-term threat to our homelands from Afghanistan," the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that ISIL's "core mandate" was to conduct "external attacks".

"That is their goal. It's just a matter of time," he said. "It is very scary."

Expanded presence

ISIL appeared in Afghanistan shortly after the group's core fighters swept across Syria and Iraq in the summer of 2014, carving out a base in about one-third of both countries.

The Afghanistan affiliate refers to itself as "Khorasan Province", a name applied to parts of Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia in the Middle Ages.

The group's presence initially numbered just a few dozen fighters, mainly Pakistan Taliban driven from their bases across the border and disgruntled Afghan Taliban attracted to ISIL's ideology.

Please go to Al Jazeera to read the entire article.
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Is this the reason the US are taking out Afghan security forces? Sort of like evening the odds?

The Taliban reportedly just beat ISIS so badly that more than 200 fighters surrendered to the Afghan government


Related:

US military allegedly promoting ISIS in Afghanistan

France's Le Pen to go on trial for tweeting gruesome IS images

Heavy fighting flares between Taliban, Islamic State in Afghanistan

How US "good guys" wiped out an Afghan family


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