(MENAFN- Arab Times) An Afghan official says the Islamic State group now has a presence in three provinces but that the government is determined to drive it out. Zafar Hashimi, the Afghan president's deputy spokesman, said Sunday that the group - which controls large areas of Iraq and Syria - is active in the eastern Nangarhar, western Farah and southern Helmand provinces. Hashimi says security forces have launched successful operations against the IS group but gave no further details.
The Taleban, which have been at war with the government for nearly 14 years and are also active in the three provinces, have warned the IS group to stay out of the country. Both groups want Islamic rule but the Taleban do not recognize the IS group's selfstyled caliphate.
In other news, US military air strikes have targeted militants who were threatening international coalition forces near the border in eastern Afghanistan, a US forces spokesman said on Sunday. Most foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan when NATO combat operations ended last year.
Around 13,200 international troops are part of a new training mission, while a small contingent of US troops is separately fighting the Taleban and other militants. The first air strike took place on Friday in Nuristan, an eastern province next to Pakistan that is partially controlled by the Taleban. Another strike followed in Paktika on Saturday, a stronghold of the Haqqani network and other groups allied with the Taleban. A spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan declined to say which troops were involved and the nature of the threat. "I'll generally say coalition forces for both," Colonel Brian Tribus said.
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