Bakhtan, a resident of Nangarhar province who has lived in an area controlled by Daesh terrorist group for two years, says that aerial attacks against the group have killed a large number of its fighters and they have lost a lot of ground.
A former fighter of Daesh group, Bakhtan and 11 members of his family lived in the area under control of the terrorist group and recently joined the government’s peace process. He asserted that Daesh has been much weakened compared to the past years.
He was working as a cook and food supplier to the group’s fighters for two years in the Achin district, but says he finally found out that the path he was going in was wrong.
“When I was there, fighters from Orozgi, Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen and Pakistni nationals were serving in Daesh, but they are not now and also the number of local fighters has decreased,” said Bakhtan.
His mother, Zari Khanom said she saw stranger women among the Daesh fighters. “The situation was very bad. A widow whose husband was just killed, got married to another man. Women got widowed even for four times.”
Bakhtan’s family says that Daesh terrorists taught children in the area how to use weapons.
Although the government and foreign forces’ airstrikes have killed a significant number of Daesh, but the group has still an active presence in different parts of Nangarhar province including Achin district.