Heavy fighting flares between Taliban, ISIS in Afghanistan
Afghan Taliban insurgents are battling fighters loyal to ISIS
over control of territory in eastern Afghanistan in some of the heaviest clashes
over the past year between the rival militants, officials said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The fighting erupted on Monday in two districts of the
eastern Afghan border province of Nangarhar, when ISIS fighters attacked
villages under Taliban control.
“ISIS fighters have captured six villages in Khogyani and
Shirzad districts but the fighting has not stopped,” said Sohrab Qaderi, a
member Nangarhar’s the provincial council.
About 500 families had fled from the fighting, he said.
Casualty figures were not available.
A spokesman for the Taliban, who control more territory than
at any point since they were ousted from power nearly 18 years ago, was not
available for comment.
ISIS fighters first appeared in eastern Afghanistan in
around 2014 and have battled the Taliban as well as government and foreign
forces.
The Afghan affiliate of ISIS, sometimes known as Islamic
State Khorasan (ISIS-K), after an old name for the region that includes
Afghanistan, has made some inroads into other areas, in the north in
particular.
It has also established a reputation for unusual cruelty,
even by the standards of the Afghan conflict, and has been behind some of the
deadliest attacks in urban centers.
While Nangarhar, on the border with Pakistan, has been an ISIS
stronghold, some villages in Khogyani and Shirzad districts have been
controlled by the Taliban.
Fleeing villagers said they had to run for their lives.
“I could only rescue my family. We had to leave everything,”
said Shawkat, 36, a resident of Markikhel village in Shirzad district who
sought safety in a neighboring village.
Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor
said, authorities would help the displaced villagers with food and medicine.
In August, more than 150 ISIS fighters surrendered to the
Afghan security forces after they were defeated by the Taliban in the
northwestern province of Jawzjan.
The US military estimates there are about 2,000 ISIS
fighters in Afghanistan.
Many are former Taliban. There is scant evidence of direct
links with ISIS in the Middle East, where the group has lost territory it once
held in Syria and Iraq to Western-backed forces.