U.S. Drone Strike Kills Afghan Militant Commander, 10 Civilians
Afghan border police in Herat (Wikipedia)
A U.S. drone strike targeting a Taliban splinter group in Western Afghanistan killed 25 Afghan militants and at least 10 civilians earlier this month, an Afghan official told the Associated Press. According to a statement from Wakil Ahmad Karokhi, a provincial council member in Herat, the drone strike killed the group’s leader, Mullah Nangyalia, and 15 militants.
The United States has been at war with the Taliban, a fundamentalist Islamic group, for control of Afghanistan since 2001. From 1994-2001, the Taliban imposed sharia law and sheltered terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda, enabling them to carry out the 9/11 attacks. American troops entered Afghanistan, where they have remained for the past 19 years, in October 2001
During the past year, the Trump administration began talks with the Taliban. Representatives from both sides reached a preliminary deal last September, but President Trump called it off after a Taliban attack killed twelve people, including an American soldier.
Mullah Nangyalia, the commander killed in the attack, was a former Taliban member. In 2015, he joined a Taliban splinter group under the command of a man named Mullah Rasul. Described as an “old and trusted friend” of the Taliban’s founder, Mullah Omar, Rasul was a key figure in the regime. After Mullah Omar’s death in 2013, succession disputes caused Rasul to leave the Taliban and form a splinter group, which later battled the Taliban and other groups. A clash between Nangyalia and a neighboring group resulted in the deaths of 40 militants in 2017.
Shindand tribal elders and family members criticized the U.S. drone strike. Tur Mohammad Zarifi, a tribal elder in Herat’s Shindand district, said, “[Nangyalia’s group] is a Taliban splinter faction that fights on the government side--we want to ask the president, the minister of defense, and the minister of interior why those who abandon war are being killed.”
The deputy minister of interior for security, Gen. Khoshal Saadat, told reporters that “a probe team has been assigned to investigate the incident.” The U.S. alleges it carried out the strike on behalf of the Afghani government.
The public remains sympathetic to those killed in the attack. Provincial council member Wakil Ahmad Karokhi called the airstrike a “huge mistake,” arguing that Nangyalia fought the Taliban “when no one else would do it.” Gul Ahmad, a resident of Shindand, told TOLO News, “20 of our friends and many people from Mullah Nangyalai’s group have been killed--over 40 people were martyred.”
Rasul’s allegiance is unclear. He allegedly cooperated with the Afghan National Government to fight against Taliban, says Sayed Taha Sadiq, an MP from Herat: “He [Nangyalia] raised the flag of the Taliban and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan at the same time and during the past three years, he has caused many deaths of innocent people.”
There is also evidence that Rasul and Nangyalia had ties to Iran. An analysis by Intelligence Fusion details a pragmatic relationship between Iran and Rasul, dating back to 2001. Iran has provided arms and funding for Rasul, in exchange for a proxy-like relationship in Herat. “Recently, Mullah Rasul became completely pro-Iranian and they were operating in Shindand and they had a huge influence in the west [of Afghanistan],” said retired general Atiqullah Amarkhil.
The Iranian connection might explain why the United States decided to carry out the drone strike. Nangyalia and Rasul are potentially useful pawns against the Taliban, who currently control half the country. As tensions with Iran over General Qasem Soleimani’s death continue to rise, the U.S. might be undermining its war with the Taliban in order to counteract Iranian influence.