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Islamic State-Afghanistan Spokesman Silenced in US Airstrike

By Jeff Seldin December 27, 2018

The spokesman for the Islamic State terror group's branch in Afghanistan has been killed in a U.S. airstrike.

A U.S. military official confirmed Thursday that IS-Khorasan's Sultan Aziz Azam was killed Sunday (Dec. 23) in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province. A second IS member was also killed in the strike.

No civilian casualties were reported as a result of the strike, which was first made public by Afghan officials.

The strike against the IS-Khorasan spokesman comes as U.S. President Donald Trump is considering a partial withdrawal from Afghanistan that would see nearly half of the about 14,000 U.S. troops in the country return home.

While most of the U.S. troops in Afghanistan have been supporting Afghan forces in their efforts against the Taliban, others have been involved in an ongoing effort to defeat and destroy IS-Khorasan.

U.S. report claims progress

A report issued to the U.S. Congress last week said the effort has been making progress.

"ISIS-K faced significant territorial, leadership, and personnel losses in Nangarhar," the quarterly report stated, using another acronym for the terror group.

But the report also warned IS-Khorasan still has enough fighters and capabilities to cause significant problems.

"However, it has sought refuge elsewhere in the country," the report added. "Although weakened, ISIS-K will most likely continue to plan and execute high profile attacks in populated areas."

U.S. officials estimated that as of September of this year, IS-Khorasan still had more than 1,000 fighters in Nangarhar province and also in northern Jowzjan province.

IS poaching fighters

The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan at the time, General John Nicholson, warned that while IS-Khorasan was not growing, it was having success replenishing its ranks by poaching fighters from other terrorist groups in the region.

Since 2017, U.S. airstrikes have killed at least three IS-Khorasan leaders, as well as other top officials.

Most recently, on Aug. 26, the Afghan government announced the death of IS-Khorasan emir, Abdu Saad Erhabi, along with his nine commanders in a U.S. airstrike, calling it a "major blow" to the terror group.

VOA's Pashto Service contributed to this report