KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Following a massive Kabul attack, the Afghan military has launched a major offensive against the Islamic State group in the country’s far eastern region near the border with Pakistan, Afghan and U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
The offensive began over the weekend in Nangarhar province, where the IS group has had a presence for the past year, said Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Defense Ministry.
The offensive, part of the government’s Operation Shafaq — or Dawn in Pahsto— started hours after an IS suicide bomber killed at least 80 people who were taking part in a peaceful demonstration in Kabul on Saturday.
It was the deadliest attack to hit the Afghan capital since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
President Ashraf Ghani gave the orders for the offensive, which Waziri said will consist of airstrikes and ground attacks, including those by special forces. Clean-up operations aimed at ensuring that IS loyalists do not return to the area would follow, he added.
The offensive marks a new chapter in Afghanistan’s war against insurgents. Until now they have been a largely defensive force, and have struggled to take the lead on the battlefield since the withdrawal in 2014 of most international combat forces.
The head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, has pledged to transform the Afghan military into an offensive force so they can take the fight to the insurgents, and reclaim battlefield initiative.
While the main fight is against the Taliban — who have been battling to overthrow the Kabul government for 15 years — this counter-terrorism operation against the Islamic State group will enable Nicholson to implement an aggressive new strategy, working closely with the Afghan military and using more airstrikes against the enemy, analysts say.
President Barack Obama recently expanded the conditions for U.S. troops in Afghanistan to support Afghan offensive operations. Nicholson can make the strategic shift from using airpower only to defend U.S. and NATO positions, to striking in support of Afghan offensives.
The U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, said American forces have been involved in the current operation in the east and are conducting “multiple counter-terrorism strikes.”