Expectation of a fight between the Taliban and ISIS are coming to pass, as Monday saw fighting in the western city of Herat, where Taliban forces raided homes which ISIS was accused of using for kidnapping.
16 were killed, all told, including 10 civilians. Several homes were destroyed, and officials claimed four of the kidnappers were killed. They also claimed weapons and grenades were seized in the raid.
A tribal elder said that “almost eight houses” were damaged din the fighting. It’s not clear how many homes were raided in the course of the operation, and how many were just nearby homes in the populous city.
This was one of the deadliest exchanges in Herat in months. The city, near the Iran border, has tended to see a lot of violence in the form of attacks targeting Shi’ites passing through on pilgrimages.
Interesting fact about Herat: In the early days of the US invasion in 2001 (November 12th to be precise), Iran sent Quds Force commandos to fight alongside American Army Rangers and Delta Force, along with anti-Taliban Afghan forces for the city. The same Quds Force and under the same Suleimani now designated as a terrorist organization and who Trump murdered in 2020. Iran was instrumental in the initial vanquishing of the Taliban, facilitating communication and coordination between the ground power of the Northern Alliance Afghan resistance with US air power, which had been making big booms for sure, but only when the cities were taken did the Taliban fall. In return, Bush in his January 2002 State of the Union absurdly conflated Iran with North Korea and their MORTAL ENEMY Saddam’s Iraq in that laughable “Axis of Evil”.
https://www.indianpunchline.com/reflections-on-events-in-afghanistan-30/
Reflections on Events in Afghanistan.
We have to put a stop to that. ISIS are our guys.