[Task&Purpose] The leader of ISIS forces in Afghanistan was killed in a U.S. strike in eastern Afghanistan last week, the Department of Defense confirmed on July 14.
Abu Sayed had served as the emir of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Khorasan, known as ISIS-K, for less than three months when American troops raided the group’s headquarters in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province on June 11, killing him and an unspecified number of other militants.
Sayed’s predecessor, Abdul Hasib, suffered a similar fate. Hasib was killed on April 27 in a raid carried out by U.S. Special Operations troops in Nangarhar Province, where the group has been most active since surfacing in the region more than two years ago. Sayed is the fourth emir of ISIS-K to die in a U.S. strike.
Afghan and U.S. forces launched a campaign in eastern Afghanistan in early March to, as the Pentagon characterized it, “send a clear message to ISIS that there is no sanctuary for their fighters in Afghanistan.” Hundreds of ISIS fighters have been killed or captured in the operation, which has distracted from the bigger mission of beating back a resurgent Taliban.
There are currently roughly 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan with several thousand more expected to deploy there in the coming months. Bolstered by about 5,000 additional NATO troops, their primary mission is to advise and assist Afghan forces fighting the Taliban, as the U.S. enters its 16th year in a war launched in response to the September 11 terror attacks. 
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