ISIL Threat To Afghanistan Grows

General John F. Campbell,US Army,commander of NATO and US forces in Afghanistan,is beginning to consider what his best military advice to the US Government will be with regard to US troop levels in Afghanistan.The current fighting season is halfway over,and the American military contingent of about 9800 personnel will be maintained through its remainder.US forces serve in both the NATO Operation Resolute Support train,advise and assist mission and the Operation Freedom's Sentinel counter-terrorism mission.*
Speaking to reporters during Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey's recent visit to Afghanistan and Iraq,General Campbell said we're taking a look at the state of the Afghan National Unity Government and the state of the Afghan Security Forces;also considering the set and basing of US forces and the state of the insurgency.
General Campbell voiced concern about the presence of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in Afghanistan,describing it as a wrinkle in his deliberations.Late last year,he said,we first starting hearing about ISIL,and in the last six or seven months,there is a drumbeat that started to grow-particularly in Nangahar,Farah and Northern Helmand Provinces.ISIL and Taliban militants are contesting control of Nangahar.
We said the ISIL threat was nascent,the general reflected,but now I would say it is probably emergent.Afghan President Ashraf Ghani knows ISIL has the ability to move very quickly,and he wants to make sure he's putting systems and processes in place to build his capability.
Thirty to forty percent of the Taliban are not reconcilable,including the Haqqani Network.So what happens if the Taliban starts reconciling?Do these other guys go over to ISIL?That's an issue.Neither the Taliban nor ISIL are an existential threat to Afghanistan at this point.Could they become that down the road?I don't know,General John Campbell admitted to the journalists.*
President Ghani has expressed his wish that Afghanistan become the hub of a regional counter-terrorist network to Generals Dempsey and Campbell.