US & Afghan troops capture ISIS capital

Stars & Stripes reports that US and Afghan special forces troops have captured an ISIS stronghold that Daesh has claimed as their local capital, Gurgoray in Deh Bala district in Nangarhar province. The announcement came after months of fighting.

The U.S. and Afghan offensive involved five Special Forces teams and three Afghan commando companies. In total, 600 members of the U.S. Army Special Forces, also known as Green Berets, participated in the mission, which began in April and continued into June, a U.S. military officer said.

Checkpoints manned by U.S. Special Forces, Afghan commandos and police now rise high above the valleys of Deh Bala, while American fighter-bombers continue to blast the Gurgoray Valley to stifle movements there by ISIS remnants.

Nangarhar province is one of the few places Americans continue to fight alongside Afghan forces in battle, and it has also been the deadliest spot for U.S. servicemembers, with a third of American combat deaths occurring there last year.

ISIS has fled the area and taken up residence in the caves of Tora Bora.

“We know that our security forces have always showed bravery to capture areas from Daesh or Taliban, but after a while these areas go back in their hands again,” Israrullah Murad, a member of Nangarhar’s provincial council, said.

The district’s Afghan Local Police commander, Sakhi, said the operations against ISIS in the region now means locals – including the Taliban – can return.

“All the people feel very happy about the elimination of ISIS,“ Sakhi said through an interpreter. “As soon as ISIS is finished, the Taliban will come back. They were scared of ISIS.”

Category: Terror War