On the cusp of another fighting season in Afghanistan, a fractured Taliban is fighting itself while also battling the emergence of the Islamic State group in the east.
But don't count out the Taliban for the 2016 fighting season, says Gen. John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. "We're seeing a lot of infighting among the Taliban, and, quite frankly, I think the Afghan Security Forces would tell you if the Taliban want to kill themselves, we're going to let them do it," he told Army Times during an interview this week. "The Taliban have their issues. They're not 10 feet tall. They can be defeated."
"We saw the Taliban really strike hard," he said about last year. "We can't have 2016 be like 2015. The Afghans can't afford that, and we don't want to go there."
Last year, the Afghans kicked off the fighting season in Helmand province in the south, quickly gaining the upper hand and conducting several corps-level operations, Campbell said.
"Then they kind of got stuck in mid-summer, and the Taliban stretched the army up in the north and places where historically we hadn't seen," he said, referring for example to the short-lived Taliban takeover of the northern city of Kunduz.
Afghan troops continue to struggle in Helmand, where the Taliban has seized territory in several parts of the province and was recently said to be close to recapturing Sangin, a strategically important district, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. is sending an infantry battalion and additional advisers to Helmand this spring to help bolster the fight there.
Still, Afghan forces are persevering, Campbell said, and are bracing for another fighting season.
Since the death of Mullah Omar became public last summer, the Taliban has been struggling to unite under one leader, Campbell said.
Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor has since claimed he is Omar's successor, but conflicting reports in December said he had either been killed or wounded, and he has been unable to win the support of all his fighters.
"Not all of them concur he's the right guy," Campbell said. "He doesn't have the religious credentials like Mullah Omar. A lot of them are really, quite frankly, asking themselves, 'why are we fighting?' 'why do we have jihad now?' because this guy really is not over all in charge."
A U.S. Army soldier and Afghan security forces stand next to a military vehicle as they arrive at the site of a suicide car bomb attack that targeted a compound for foreign contractors near the international airport in Kabul, on Jan. 4.
Photo Credit: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images
An added dynamic is the Islamic State Khorasan Province, also known as ISIL KP or Daesh, Campbell said.
A year ago, the group's presence in Afghanistan was "nascent," but it has since grown to become "operationally emergent," and Campbell recently received the authority to strike them in theater.
"We've really been pretty aggressive the last three weeks, going after ISIL, because they have said they do want to go to Europe, they want to go to the homeland, they want to attack Americans," Campbell said.
Campbell declined to provide details on how many strikes the U.S. and coalition have carried out against the Islamic State, but said they have been "pretty aggressive" and "I would say every day we're seeing action against ISIL KP."
Estimates put the group at 1,000 to 3,000 fighters, most of them in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, but those numbers fluctuate and are difficult to pin down, Campbell said.
Many of the group's members are disenfranchised members of the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), he said. There also are fighters who left the Taliban in Afghanistan, enticed by what they believe are "more resources, more money, more media exposure" offered by the Islamic State, and "there are some foreign fighters coming in," Campbell said.
Army Gen. John Campbell, commander, Operation Resolute Support U.S. Forces, is wrapping up an 18-month tour in Afghanistan.
Photo Credit: Molly Riley/AP
ISIL KP has "been fighting with the Taliban," Campbell said. "And the Taliban has been diverted in some areas, especially in Nangarhar, because they've had to fight ISIL KP."
ISIL KP remains unable to really gain the support of the people, Campbell said.
"We have seen beheadings. We have seen them tie up men and women and children and put them on top of [improvised explosive device] piles and just blow them up in a video," he said. "Because they're so brutal, they don't have the support of the people."
What Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the coalition are working to do is make sure the rest of the region — "Pakistan, all of the 'Stans to the north, Iran" — understands "how dangerous this could be," Campbell said.
"Everybody has to work together in this region to go after this threat," he said.
Ghani and his national unity government continue to work to bring the warring factions to the table, Campbell said.
"President Ghani said it on the very first day of his inauguration, that we've got to get to a political solution," Campbell said. "Afghans shouldn't be killed Afghans. Come to the political process. We need you to come to the peace table. Follow the constitution, respect women and children, don't cause violence to the people, and you can be part of the process."
Campbell, who is wrapping up his 18-month tour as commander in Afghanistan, said he believes the Taliban will again fight hard this year.
"The Taliban is going to continue to try to be aggressive, but it's not about just the military here," he said. "It's got to be a whole of government approach … to get after this insurgency they have here. I think it'll be another tough, tough fight."
Michelle Tan is the editor of Army Times and Air Force Times. She has covered the military for Military Times since 2005, and has embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Haiti, Gabon and the Horn of Africa.
