U.S. forces to intensify fight against Islamic State
BRUSSELS — The Afghan government’s unilateral halt to attacks on the Taliban is giving U.S. counterterrorism forces a chance to intensify combat operations against Islamic State-affiliated extremists in eastern Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the top U.S. general in Kabul said Friday.
Army Gen. John Nicholson said the fight against Islamic State in the southern part of Nangarhar province had already been intensifying this year and would be further stepped up during the ceasefire, which does not apply to non-Taliban opposition groups. Nicholson spoke with reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO defense ministers.
Speaking separately at a NATO news conference, Mattis said the cease-fire could put U.S. forces in a better position to fight other extremist groups such as the Islamic State affiliate and remnants of al Qaeda.
“If the Taliban take full advantage of the cease-fire in the best interests of the Afghan people, then many of the surveillance assets that we have overhead can be reoriented to ISIS-K, to al Qaeda and other foreign terrorists that have no business being in Afghanistan in the first place,” Mattis said. ISIS-K is a name for the Islamic State affiliate that operates in three provinces in eastern Afghanistan.
Nicholson, who was attending the NATO meeting to provide updates on the war in Afghanistan, said he could not predict whether the Taliban will join the cease-fire announced this week by President Ashraf Ghani. He expressed no concern that a unilateral cease-fire would give the Taliban breathing room to regroup and rearm.
“The potential benefit is greater than the risk,” he said, expressing hope that what Ghani called a weeklong pause could lead to something more substantial and improve prospects for actual peace negotiations. The Taliban has insisted that it would negotiate only with Washington, but the U.S. insists that it talk to the Afghan government.
Whether it remains a unilateral action or not, U.S. forces will remain prepared to respond to any Taliban attacks, Nicholson said. The U.S. has about 8,400 troops performing noncombat support for Afghan security forces fighting the Taliban; separately, several thousand U.S. combat troops are fighting al Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated groups.