ISIS in Afghanistan is Still Able to Field Thousands of Fighters Despite Hellacious Fight to Destroy It by Shawn Snow – Military Times
In April 2017, U.S. forces dropped one of the largest non-nuclear bombs on an ISIS cave complex in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Dubbed the ‘mother of all bombs’ it killed dozens of fighters.
Former U.S. Afghanistan commander Gen. John Nicholson’s decision to unleash such an immense display of American air power against a militant group that at the time was estimated to number less than a 1,000 fighters was highly criticized.
But, despite years of American bombardment and hundreds of counterterrorism operations launched against the militant group largely cornered in remote pockets of Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, ISIS fighters in Afghanistan number in the thousands while maintaining the ability to launch deadly high profile attacks across the country.
A recent UN report said ISIS terrorists in Afghanistan numbered between 2,500 and 4,000 fighters. A 2019 DoD report on Afghanistan estimates the size of the terrorist group to be less than 2,000 fighters…