Afghan, US special forces to target insurgents in North Afghanistan

KABUL: Pentagon officials said the United States forces in Afghanistan along the Afghan National Army’s (ANA) Special Forces are preparing to eliminate Daesh militants in Afghanistan’s north, especially in Faryab province.

According to Pentagon, the US forces in coordination with the Afghan Special Forces have photographed and surveyed the Daesh militants’ strongholds in Faryab and Jawzjan provinces from air and these hideouts will soon be targeted from air and ground, reported Tolo news.

Afghan Interior Ministry, meanwhile, said in these operations, the Afghan and US soldiers will eliminate Deash operatives in the two provinces.

“Planning, investigative and intelligence process have been finalized in this respect,” a spokesman for Interior Ministry Nusrat Rahimi said.

Although before this, government officials rejected existence of Daesh in Faryab, but recent reports indicate that Qari Hekmatullah, a commander of a group of 145 armed men, carry out activities in support of Daesh group in Jawzjan’s Qush Tepa district which borders with Faryab’s Bulcharagh district.

“Foreign Taliban fighters, opposition groups to Uzbekistan and other counties who fight in Afghanistan, all exist here,” Faryab Governor Mohammad Humayun Fawzi said.

Meanwhile, ANA Special Forces said they have launched special operations in Faryab.

“In a special night raid that we had in parts of Ghormach district, we killed four insurgents and wounded six others. Our operations are ongoing in north and north-east,” Jawed Salim, spokesman of the ANA Special Forces said.