Over 7,000 foreign fighters present in Afghanistan
Kabul, Afghanistan: Afghan authorities claim that over 7,000 foreign fighters including from Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Chechnya are present in Afghanistan, reports Dispatch News Desk news agency.
According to a the presentation given by Afghan Ambassador to the United Nations Zahir Tanin on June 23, to UN Security Council, over 7,000 foreign fighters including from Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Chechnya are present in Afghanistan and they can join Islamic State (Daieesh) anytime by leaving Taliban who are becoming weaker in the region.
In this presentation to the UN Security Council before it approved a resolution condemning the attack on Afghanistan’s Parliament June 23, Zahir Tanin said militant groups are seeking to control entire districts and provinces of the country as bases for their activities in Afghanistan, central and south Asia.
Meanwhile, Nicholas Haysom, the UN’s envoy to Afghanistan during his presentation to Security Council said that Afghan forces are effectively fighting out terrorism in Afghanistan after taking on full security responsibilities following the end of U.S. and NATO combat missions.
“Afghanistan is meeting its security challenges,” even in the face of the intensifying conflict across the country, he said.
Both Tanin and Haysom said the influx of foreign fighters into Afghanistan appears to be a byproduct of the Pakistani military’s intensified campaign to eliminate militants in neighboring North Waziristan.
“The government also estimates “there may be hundreds or thousands of people” operating under the black flag of the Islamic State, including some “extreme-oriented Taliban. Increasingly, Afghanistan, one of the 10 poorest countries in the world, is finding itself in the forefront of dealing with terrorists whose origins are the neighbors, and possibly whose eventual destination are its neighbors” Haysom said.
