Spokesman for the US military in Afghanistan, Bill Salvin, announced Friday that the Afghan forces and international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) have made significant progress in the fight against IS militants in Afghanistan. In a statement to reporters, Salvin revealed that IS had lost two-thirds of its territories and half of its fighters in the same period. NATO forces have carried out nearly 460 air strikes since the beginning of 2017, while Salvin estimated the number of IS militants in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan to be between 600 to 800 militants. He added that drone aircraft killed more than 200 militants, according to international news agencies. Ahmed Ban, a researcher on the Islamic movements, said that talking about progress on the ground against a provocative organization, such as IS would only be achieved by the unified presence of military efforts on the ground. Ban said in a statement to Al Bawaba News, "IS receives considerable support in the shape of individuals and weapons, making it similar to a regular army of a state". However, Ban stressed it would be highly unlikely that IS would be eliminated in any of its actual territories, whether in Afghanistan or even in Iraq and Syria, expecting the fight against IS to take a long one. IS offshoot in Afghanistan, known as Khorasan Province, has been active in eastern parts of Afghanistan over the past two years.
