Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: The acting provincial chief of the High Peace Council (HPC) on Friday said that Daesh was offering good salary to recruit fighters in Ghazni province.
Khalilullah Hotak told Afghan Pajhwok News that the Islamic State, also known as Daesh, is active in the province and recruiting people to disrupt the security. The provincial HPC chief claimed that the Middle Eastern terrorist group is getting support because Daesh fighters were flown to Giru and Andar districts by helicopters.
Hotak urged the relevant authorities to take notice of the issue and identify those actors who are backing the group in Afghanistan. He said that the government should take measures to eliminate Daesh fighters in Ghazni.
Confirming presence of Daesh terrorists in the province, the provincial council member Amanullah Kamrani said the Islamic State was constructing check posts in certain parts of the province to destabilize Ghazni.
“The activities of Daesh fighters have been observed in Andar, Gilan and Giru districts of Ghazni. They want to influence people and control the areas,” Pajhwok Afghan News quoted Kamrani. The provincial council member added that Daesh terrorists were equipped with sophisticated weapons. He warned that if the group was not eliminated then it would be difficult for the security forces to defeat Daesh in later stage.
He furthered that the Islamic State fighters were also seen in Nawa district of the province which has been in control of the Taliban for over the past 14 years.
Governor of Ghazni province, Mohammad Aman Hamim, did not comment on presence of the Islamic State, but said the provincial administration had not received any report regarding recruitment of people by Daesh.
In late December 2015, residents of eastern Laghman province had also expressed concerns over presence of Daesh fighters in the province and urged the security officials to take notice of the issue.
The residents said that threats in Qarghaee district are mostly due to presence of Daesh fighters. They said the district was one of the secure districts and it was called the “district of peace” by the locals. However, the district has become insecure now.
Shayesta Gul, a resident of Laghman, said that there was a group of people who wore black outfits and were harassing the locals.
Another resident of the province, Hakim Khan, said that Daesh has started their activities in different parts of Qarghaee district and the province, saying it has raised the residents’ concerns about the growing presence of the group.
Without pointing and commenting on the presence of Daesh in the province, the Qarghaee district chief Sadullah Behbud said that the insurgents were trying to destabilize the eastern province. Behbud said that the residents are united against the terrorist group.
However, the Laghman’s governor spokesman Sarhadi Zwak denied the presence of the Daesh group in the province, saying that the Daesh fighters do not have any activity in the province.
On the other hand the Afghan authorities claim that Daesh fighters has been on the run to save skins and could not find safe haven in the country.
In February, the defense ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said that Daesh could not threaten Afghanistan or other regional countries from Afghan soil.
“The Daesh fighters were emerged in Afghanistan to find stronghold to threat the regional countries from our country, but they were repressed by the Afghan National Security Forces in every corner of the country,” Waziri told newsmen in Kabul.
“Now, there is no danger of Daesh fighters in our country or the regional countries. They were curbed in every battle and they now prefer to leave Afghanistan rather than fighting against Afghan forces,” he mentioned.
