Two weeks ago I spent a couple of days in and near Jalalabad (Nangarhar province) to investigate a recent U.S. drone attack against the Islamic State in Afghanistan. The city is the most active area of the Islamic State this year and yet the atmosphere was lively and relaxed /1
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Now we know that deceptive calm was just a break. Last ten days the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an unprecedented sequence of 20 attacks in broad daylight against the Taliban in Jalalabad /2
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3/ On Aug. 27 the Pentagon claimed a drone attack against a “planner” of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, a day after a suicide bomber killed scores of people at Kabul airport – including 13 U.S. troops. This is the last update on Aug. 28:
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The Pentagon didn’t provide the name of the “planner”. There is no connection between that drone attack and the suicide bombing at Kabul airport the day before, if not a political reason – “We need to show a degree of reaction now”. Allegedly: “Zero civilian casualties” /4
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Name of the place is Qalai Lal Gul. I expected a trip to a remote place in the mountains, hard to justify. Wrong. Ten minute drive from Jalalabad, no checkpoints. Rural area, alleys and brick walls
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Villagers told us that the drone killed a man, his wife and their 6yo kid. The family lived a very secluded life inside their walled place. Never seen in the mosque. Never seen in the shops, “not even for food or water or candies”. Never spoken a word with neighbors /6
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The targeted man had moved here just three months ago with his family from Bati-kot district (another place in Nangarhar province, closer to the Pakistani border). White beard. Rumors: an injured leg because of a previous drone strike /7
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According to the villagers, the night of the missile “dozens of women, not from here, were inside the house”. Villagers don’t know why. “They are alive because the missile hit the yard, not the roof. They fled the place immediately”. If true, implications are disconcerting /8
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The Taliban don't talk about the U.S. drone attack in Jalalabad (they have orders). They just grinned, "two months ago they would have snatched you", boasting about the renewed security in town. Little they knew the place was about to see a string of attacks /9
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After the U.S. drone attack the Taliban cordoned off the house, told the villagers to stay away and arrested the landlord for three days to extract info. In the following days they routinely patrolled the street to check on people /10
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The villagers told us they suspected the man was affiliated with the Islamic State “even before the American missile but they [the members of the Islamic State] don't have a tag on their foreheads" /11
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Interestingly, the man targeted in the drone attack was a tuk tuk driver. According to an AP article (April 27, 2021), Islamic State operatives have infiltrated the tuk tuk business in Jalalabad and use the vehicles for targeted killings /12
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To be clear, I’m not saying the tuk tuk drivers in Jalalabad are operatives of the Islamic State in Afghanistan. I myself used the tuk tuks to move around /13
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And how about some Islamic State operatives posing as tuk tuk drivers in Jalalabad? Sure. In their latest video from Afghanistan, released in July, you can see them using the tuk tuks for targeted killings, ambushes and even a large jailbreak /14
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Here a recent ambush – Islamic State operatives once again using a tuk tuk for a targeted attack in Jalalabad, this time against the Taliban (via
@war_noir
) /15
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U.S. drone attack in Jalalabad on Aug 27 could be (I stress: could) less a mistake compared to the catastrophic attack in Kabul on Aug 29. And yet we don't have the name, we record civilian casualties and we heard about an alleged miracle ("dozens of women inside the house") End
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