Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said his security forces have uprooted loyalists of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan.
Addressing lawmakers at the opening of parliament in Kabul Sunday, he said IS is one of the elements in the current Afghan conflict, but it is only fighting to promote its own extremist ideology and interests.
“We can say with pride that today Afghanistan is the only nation where Daesh (Arabic acronym for IS) is on the run. They are on the run in Nangarhar, and Afghanistan will be their graveyard,” Ghani said.
The eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan, is where IS established its strongholds more than a year ago and tried to expand its influence to the rest of the country through use of its terrorist activities.
In recent days Afghan ground and air forces, assisted sometimes by U.S. drones, have carried out repeated attacks on the remote mountainous Achin and Shinwar districts in the restive province.
Afghan officials say the operations have killed more than 200 IS fighters in the 21-day military campaign that was concluded last week.
