After two years of heavy casualties, the Afghan military is trying to retake the initiative in the war against militants with a new offensive against Daesh (the so-called IS) loyalists, an assault that will see American troops back on the battlefield working more closely with Afghan soldiers. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani recently announced a major assault against fighters loyal to Daesh, who over the past year captured positions along Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan, mainly in Nangarhar province. That goal to uproot Daesh from Afghanistan has taken on new urgency in the wake of a deadly suicide bombing of a protest march Saturday in Kabul that killed at least 80 people. Daesh's Aamaq online news agency quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, the first Daesh attack in the Afghan capital and one of the deadliest ever to hit Kabul. Ghani, in a live televised address after the bombing, told the nation, "I promise you I will take revenge against the culprits." The inexperienced Afghan forces have largely stalled in the fight against militants ever since most international combat troops withdrew in 2014. American forces that remained shifted to a supporting role and US airstrikes diminished, letting the Afghan military take the lead in carrying out the war. Taliban forces have dominated the battlefield and Daesh has been building a foothold — and that has meant mounting losses among Afghan troops. Casualty numbers are not officially released, but according to figures provided by military officials, at least 5,000 troops were killed in 2014, rising to more than 6,000 last year. So far in 2016, Afghan troop deaths are 20 percent higher than the same point last year. In an acknowledgment of the deteriorating security situation, President Barack Obama last month gave a green light to a more assertive role for US troops, though still short of direct combat. With that boost, Afghans are shifting back on the offensive. The upcoming anti-Daesh operation announced by Ghani, dubbed Shafaq — or "Dawn" in Pashto — will see the head of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, implementing an aggressive new strategy. US airstrikes on Afghanistan are likely to become more frequent, as the strategy shifts from using airpower only to defend US and NATO positions to striking in support of Afghan offensives. Nangarhar is one of Afghanistan's most economically important provinces, a major producer of agricultural goods and a thoroughfare for much of the country's exports to Pakistan and beyond. "It is like a second capital," Afghan Army Gen. Shir Mohammad Karimi, the former general staff chief of operations, said of the provincial capital Jalalabad, 125 km east of Kabul. "It is a gateway to Kabul," he said. "If Nangarhar falls, Kabul will become a battleground every day." Ghani has said the operation, expected to start before the end of this month, aims to eliminate IS fighters in Nangarhar, where they have been active mainly in the Shinwar, Kot and Achin districts. The Daesh loyalists are believed to be mostly disaffected Taliban fighters, as well as members of Pakistani insurgent groups, likely funded by Daesh in Iraq and Syria, Karimi said. Obama's directives, issued in June, enable the US military to work alongside Afghan forces in the field on offensive missions against insurgents, though still in a non-combat role. Since 2014, their role was confined to battles in which the Taliban directly threatened US and NATO forces. They also allow US involvement when Afghan forces face "strategic defeat," as they did in the northern provincial capital of Kunduz, which fell to the Taliban last September for several weeks and was threatened again in April.
