Officials in the western province of Herat said they are concerned about some movements by gunmen affiliated to Daesh who relocated from eastern Afghanistan after they were defeated by government forces.
The officials said the presence of such individuals has been reported in Guzara district, which is located near the city of Herat. The group, however, has not created a footprint there, according to local officials.
“This is a post-Taliban project, same as the Taliban were a project after the Mujahideen,” Herat governor Abdul Qayum Rahimi said. “Now that the Taliban is faced with a problem, Daesh is going to be created. They have been pushed here from Nangarhar and its surroundings.”
Two members of Herat’s Provincial Council said the group should be prevented from establishing a footprint in the province.
“This is alarming. We hope that the national police and the national army eliminate the group and prevent it from growing in Herat,” said Toryalai Taheri, deputy head of Herat Provincial Council.
“They (the Daesh-affiliated fighters) do not have a stronghold or a specific address in Herat. I hope that they are annihilated before any subversive activity starts,” member of Herat Provincial Council Ghulam Habib Hashemi said.
Herat civil society activists called on the security forces to take the issue seriously.
“We hope that the government takes this issue seriously so that we do not witness another big conflict. The government should recognize the roots of Daesh finance,” said Sayed Ashraf Sadat, a civil society activist in Herat.
This comes as President Ashraf Ghani on November 20 commended the Afghan forces for eliminating Daesh in the country after the group was removed from Achin district in Nangarhar.
Ghani called it a major achievement for the country, the region and the world. Last month, according to the Ministry of Defense, over 1,000 Daesh fighters, accompanied by their families, surrendered to Afghan forces.
