ISIL Stages Barbaric Attack in Afghan Capital Kabul

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NATO Plans Steady Course in Afghanistan

The NATO Defence Ministers have decided to fund the Alliance's Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan until at least 2020.They will also maintain troops across Afghanistan,NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of Norway said.*
At the same time,the US is reviewing its plans to nearly cut its troop strength in half next year,in light of the Alliance's strong support for the Mission.*
Before the Defence Ministers' meeting,President Barack Obama has ordered greater use of US airpower against the Taliban militants,including close air support for the Afghan National Defence and Security forces.This is because the Taliban Islamist extremists have increased attacks of late mostly in the southern provinces of Helmand,Kandahar and Uruzgan;while also increasing their strikes in the northern city of Kunduz.*
The NATO combat mission in Afghanistan ended on 31 December 2014.Today its Resolute Support Mission includes counterterrorist operations by US troops;and training Afghan soldiers and police by both the US and its NATO Allies and partners,NATO said.The US share of Resolute Support is called Operation Freedom's Sentinel.*
Besides the Taliban,the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has become a significant threat to Afghan security.On Saturday,ISIL militants stormed a police base in Eastern Afghanistan,killing at least six.Among those killed in Haska Mina District in Nangarhar Province were District police chief Shah Mahmood,as well as five policemen and 11 ISIL militants.

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.