The U.S. defense officials have said the Obama administration has granted the U.S. forces new authority to target the loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group in Afghanistan.
The strikes on ISIS loyalists would be carried out based on the new rules of engagement approved by the Obama administration last week, permitting the U.S. commanders in Afghanistan launch airstrikes against militants affiliated with the Islamic State, in the same way that the military targets fighters linked to al-Qaida.
A defense official speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Washington Post, the new arrangement “enables the United States to more actively target ISIL in Afghanistan.”
The U.S. military was able to conduct airstrikes in Afghanistan in three circumstances under the previous rules, which included strikes to protect foreign forces, to help Afghan troops ward off an enemy onslaught, and to target al-Qaida and affiliated militants.
Another U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the U.S. military has struck militants identified with the Islamic State in Afghanistan in the past, but those strikes were launched on the basis of the fighters’ “hostile intentions” rather than their affiliation with the group’s Afghan organization.
The new rules were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
This comes as there have been growing concerns regarding the growing activities of the loyalists of the terror group as they have been trying to expand foothold in the country.
The latest move by the Obama administration followed shortly after the U.S. Department of State designated the Khorasan branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as a terrorist organization.
The Khorasan branch dubbed as ‘Khorasan province – Wilayah Khorasan’ is the territorial scope of the terror group covering parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan but the loyalists of the terror group is mainly operational in some remote regions of Afghanistan bordering the Durand Line located between Afghanistan and Pakistan. http://www.khaama.com/us-forces-in-afghanistan-can-now-target-loyalists-of-isis-terror-group-0026
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