ISIS's Caliphate in Afghanistan - The Reality

The Islamic State is attempting to establish what it calls the “Khorasan” caliphate inside of Afghanistan, said the top US commander in the country.General John Nicholson, in an interview with NBC news, said that the push to establish the caliphate mostly involves non-Afghans.The United States has seen foreign fighters, including Uzbeks from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, joining the Islamic State Khorasan, or IS-K, which is the branch of the Islamic State terror group that is currently fighting in Afghanistan.[caption id="attachment_8608" align="aligncenter" width="850"]

An undated photo if Islamic State-Khorasan militants marching. Source: Long Wars Journal[/caption]"Right now we see them very focused on trying to establish their caliphate, the Khorasan caliphate, inside Afghanistan," he said.Many Pakistani Pashtuns cross the border and also fight Americans and Afghan Army troops in the country.Nicholson said that IS-K does not enjoy widespread support by the Afghan people, and calls the Islamic State philosophy “the antithesis of Afghan culture.”“With our partners, we’ve been able to reduce that territory significantly and inflict heavy casualties on them to include killing their leaders,” he said.

US, Afghans Fight to Keep Caliphate at Bay

In recent months fighting against the Islamic State-Khorasan has intensified. An Afghan news agency yesterday reported that 9 IS-K militants were killed in separate operations in eastern Nangarhar province, including an airstrike on a compound in Pacher Agam district.[caption id="attachment_8609" align="aligncenter" width="564"]

Rangers get ready to go full Gustav on a fool. Source: Unknown[/caption]Gen. Nicholson confirmed that the IS-K presence in Afghanistan is mostly restricted to Nangarhar, with about 1,000 fighters operating out of the province. A recent operation by US Army Rangers left one Ranger’s gear behind but wiped out 15 to 20 percent of the IS-K fighters.Nicholson said that the “number of border posts probably needs to increase” to stop the flow of IS-K, Taliban and Haqqani Network fighters across the border with Pakistan.While IS-K may be trying to establish a caliphate in Nangarhar, the majority of high-profile attacks in Kabul are conductd by the Haqqani network, which is headquartered in Pakistan.