The leading commander of US forces in Afghanistan downplayed reports that the Islamic State is gaining a foothold there.
Gen. John Campbell told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that American military officials are watching for “the potential emergence” of the militant group, but said stories that it has already spread to Afghanistan lack significance.
“Thus far, we have seen some evidence of limited recruiting efforts, and a few Taliban have rebranded themselves as ISIL,” he said, using one of many names for group. “This is most likely an attempt to attract media attention, solicit greater resources, and increase recruitment.”
He noted that there is a “budding presence” of the Islamic State in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, but said US intelligence estimates that “there is only a low probability that ISIL can establish a large, credible presence in Afghanistan.”
Campbell also remarked, in written testimony, that both Afghan security forces and the Taliban insurgents they’re fighting remain opposed and wary of ISIL.
Reports of the Islamic State’s activities in Afghanistan became the focal point of strategists this week due a targeted assassination carried about by American forces. On Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed that it “conducted a precision strike” against Adbul Rauf Khadim, a former Guantanamo detainee who had declared himself the militant group’s “deputy emir” in Afghanistan and had attempted to recruit in the country under the banner of the Islamic State. But the Department of Defense described both Khadim and fundamentalist group’s role in the country as marginal.
“The way I would describe ISIL in Afghanistan is nascent at best,” Pentagon spokesperson Rear Adm. John Kirby said Tuesday, commenting on the killing. “This guy Khadim, we assess that he decided to swear allegiance to ISIL probably no more than a couple weeks ago,” he added. “And he didn’t have a whole lot of depth to any network resources or manpower when he did it.”
“I’m not diminishing or trying to dismiss at all the threat that ISIL poses, wants to pose, but what I’m telling you is here in this case, it’s nascent and aspirational,” the spokesperson also said., “and that would be an aggressive characterization right now.”
Yet the incident and Khadim’s activities have caused something of a panic. In a headline Thursday, The Hill declared that the Pentagon “acknowledges ISIS spread to Afghanistan amid US troop drawdown.”
And in his own testimony, Senate Armed Services Committee Chair John McCain (R-Ariz.), criticized the Obama administration’s withdrawal plans, saying they were decided upon “before the appearance of ISIS on the Afghan battlefield.”
“We can not let the Taliban, al-Qaeda and ISIS conquer Afghanistan,” he added.
