U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned of the threat posed by the IS group during a surprise visit to Afghanistan today, Reuters reports.
Carter met troops at a U.S. base near Jalalabad in Nangarhar Province.
"We are seeing little nests of [IS] spring up around the world, including here in Afghanistan ... but I will say that that is a threat that we track very closely," Carter said.
U.S. Army General John Campbell, who leads international forces in Afghanistan, estimated that there are around 1,000-3,000 IS militants in Afghanistan.
The IS group and the radicalized extremist movement is the “enemy of our time” and Canadian fighter pilots have been “superb” in their bombing missions against them, Canada’s top soldier says.
."There’s no question that the potential for the spread of militarized radicals, no matter where they come from, that’s a very dangerous threat vector," Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of defense staff, told Canada's The Star in an exclusive interview.
"They can grow. They can, as we’ve seen with IS, they can get their hands on funds. Imagine if they are so well-equipped that they become difficult to fight on the ground, which they can. There are weapons that are easy to buy in the world."
Canadian elite commandos exchanged fire with IS in a day-long battle this week fighting alongside Kurdish Peshmerga fighters near the IS-controlled city of Mosul after IS launched its biggest offensive for 18 months.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has tweeted this photo of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in New York for a International Syria Support Group meeting.
An American husband and wife team helped more than 100 Iraqi Christian refugees escape IS terror threats in their homeland and flee to Europe, ABC News reports.
Steve Warren, the Spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the U.S. military operation against IS, is giving a press briefing.
Some main points:
-- Warren started with an operational update.
In Iraq:
-- Close fights in Baiji in Iraq. Clearing operations to clear up pockets of resistance, mainly in Makhmur mountains.
-- Sinjar -- supporting Peshmerga with air strikes.
-- Fallujah -- ISF moved troops near the city.
-- Hit -- disrupting command and control through air strikes.
Steve Warren, the Spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the U.S. military operation against IS, is giving a press briefing.
Operations have included:
-- Hitting IS oil targets to disrupt finances.
-- Trained nearly 16,000 Iraqi troops while it is engaged in combat ops.
Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve against IS, is giving a press briefing:
Warren says there were significant fights in Ramadi and northern Iraq this week.
IS is able to muster defense but ISF able to repel their efforts.
In Ramadi -- on Tuesday IS was able to push Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) off the Palestine bridge in Ramadi then sent a VBIED truck bomb toward Ramadi Ops Center. But ISF able to destroy the VBIED. ISF were able to regain the Palestine Bridge.
IS assault in northern Iraq on Kurdish Peshmerga positions:
Fight began at 16:17 hours on Wednesday, with rocket fire near Tal Aswad.
Kicked off battalion sized attack, breached berms using construction vehicles and excavators.
Coalition forces responded.
Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve against IS, is giving a press briefing:
While this fight happening along the Kurdish flank we were striking multiple targets in Raqqa in Syria.
We were simultaneously knocking that flanking attack back and striking IS in its heart.
Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve against IS, is giving a press briefing:
Answering a question about Russian air defense systems in Syria:
There has not been a significant disruption to our operations.
We are aware of them and we have ability to continue our operations unabated.
The Russians do not dictate how we carry out our operations.
Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve against IS, is giving a press briefing:
Question about a report that the U.S.is acquiescing to Russian efforts to keep American manned aircraft out of the skies, that there is a Russian SA-17 (Buk missile system) that is disrupting things.
The report is incorrect. We continue manned and unmanned.
We know where the SA17 is, it is in Aleppo but we are continuing to strike wherever we want to strike.