Interior Minister Nurul Haq Ulumi has graded the threat-level faced by provinces. While 12 were facing “first-grade threats”, nine were “second-grade” and “the rest are normal which doesn’t mean there are no movements of enemy, rather they place mines in some areas or launch other types of attacks”, he told the press.
According to the minister, the most insecure were the border provinces like Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul, Ghazni, Nuristan, Kunar and Kandahar. In the next category are provinces such as Herat, Ghor, Kapisa, Faryab and Parwan. The least insecure were provinces like Kabul and Bamyan “where security was normal”, the minister said.
He admitted the district of Khak Afghan in Zabul, Nawa in Ghazni, Dishoo and Baghran in Helmand were under Taleban control; also, Wardaj and Yamagan in Badakhshan have either fallen or about to fall.
Security analysts think the government did not take “required actions” to repel armed opponents. Shamsher Khan, a retired colonel, says a “serious weakness among the security forces” has allowed armed opponents to “open big fighting areas throughout the country”. “Right now, some of the districts in Nangarhar, Laghman, Logar, Nuristan and Badakhshan are centres of military movement, and a big attack can happen today or tomorrow in Maidan Wardak, Paktia and other provinces that the government sees as normal provinces. (Things are) worse than the government thinks,” he says.
The Taleban in northern provinces like Kunduz , Badakhshan and Faryab were able to engage the security forces for one month in the month of May. General Afzal Aman, the head of operations in the Ministry of Defence, says that an operation would soon be launched in Khak Afghan, Nawa, Dishoo and Baghran districts. He denied that any administrative unit or highway was under Taleban control. He also said Afghan security forces would stop their attacks on armed opponents during the month of Ramadan and would support the people but if the Taleban attack, they were plans to repel them.
According to MoD figures, the Taleban launched 1,600 attacks of various kinds including mine explosions and suicide blasts in the last four months. General Aman said the Afghan National Army (ANA) launched 8,159 successful cleaning operations over the past three months and repelled the Taleban. “We have eliminated the sources of Taliban in Sar-e Pol and Kunduz provinces; Pasaband and Charsada districts of Ghor, Gulistan district in Farah and other eastern provinces. The Afghan people need not be concerned that the enemy would be successful in these provinces,” he says.
Dawlat Waziri, MoD’s deputy spokesperson, says the Taleban used their entire firepower in the operation called Azam (intention) but they failed. However, messages to the media from Taleban’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid have always claimed achievements.
‘ISIS’ threat
Interior Minister Ulumi who has presented his plans for the first 100 days included the Islamic State (ISIS) among his concerns. For the past few months, there are reports about the emergence of ISIS fighters. There is speculation that while their numbers are around 3,000, they are mostly “foreigners”. The interior minister said there was no place for ISIS in the country, and has plans to investigate in details since insurgents from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kirghizstan, Chechnya, Turkey and Uighur tribesmen from China are believed to be in the country. He has appealed for cooperation from neighbouring countries. “Some groups introduce themselves on behalf of ISIS in order to get financial support and a base in Afghanistan. Countries in the region must know we are a buffer and our land cannot be abused to make our neighbours insecure,” the minister had said in a statement on June 13.
The view was echoed by former president Hamid Karzai in an interview with a Russian channel, RT. He called the presence of ISIS a serious threat to countries in the region, and said fighters were supported by foreigners. “The aim of this group is to make insecure the countries in central Asia, Russia and China,” the president said.
Earlier, the National Directorate of Security had while confirming the presence of ISIS said their presence was “limited”.
There have been report about confrontation between fighters of ISIS and Taleban.
The MoD confirmed for the first time last week that ISIS has opened positions against Taleban in two districts of Nangarhar, and many tens of individuals on both sides have been killed. Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the spokesperson for the Nangarhar governor, also confirmed in his interview with BBC that many people have been displaced in Batikot district in the province because of fighting between Taleban and ISIS. He did not give details of how many people have been rendered homeless. For the first time, ISIS has circulated a video of Hafez Sayeed (who is probably an ISIS commander) which shows the beheading of Taleban by ISIS fighters in Achin district, Nangarhar.
Security interest
Afzal Aman the head of MoD’s operation’s department says the fighting between Taleban and ISIS would have no effect on the ANA’s anti-terrorist operations. The Afghan government would keep an eye on the situation. “This is not the case that Taleban and ISIS would keep fighting and we would sit impartially. We will stand up against any group that is a threat to the Afghan people.”
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