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The Battle of Darzab (12 July – 1 August 2018) was a major conflict between the
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
and the
Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
's Khorasan Province (IS-KP) who fought each other over control of
Jowzjan Province Jowzjan, sometimes spelled Jawzjan or Jozjan (Dari: ), is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country bordering neighboring Turkmenistan. The province is divided into 11 districts and contains hundreds of v ...
's
Darzab District Darzab ( fa, درزاب) is the southwesternmost district in Jowzjan province, Afghanistan. It borders Sheberghan District to northeast, Sar-e Pol Province to the west and Faryab Province Faryab (Dari: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of ...
in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. Following heavy clashes, IS-KP was defeated, with most of the group's forces in Jowzjan Province killed or captured.


Background

Despite both being opposed to the
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was a presidential republic that ruled Afghanistan from 2004 to 2021. The state was established to replace the Afghan interim (2001–2002) and transitional (2002–2004) administrations, which were formed ...
and its
Western allies The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy ...
, the
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
and the
Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
are fierce rivals who have fought each other since 2015. The Islamic State's Afghan branch, namely the so-called " Khorasan Province" (often abbreviated ISIL-KP), has extensively recruited disaffected ex-Taliban, and its mere presence threatens the Taliban's claim to be "the only legitimate opposition" in Afghanistan. One of the
theaters Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
where the two insurgent groups have repeatedly clashed is the country's north, most importantly the provinces of
Jowzjan Jowzjan, sometimes spelled Jawzjan or Jozjan (Dari: ), is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country bordering neighboring Turkmenistan. The province is divided into 11 Districts of Afghanistan, districts ...
, Sar-e Pol, and
Faryab Faryab (Dari: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, which is located in the north of the country bordering neighboring Turkmenistan. It has a population of about 1,109,223, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a tribal society. The pr ...
. The forces of ISIL-KP in northern Afghanistan consist of local Taliban defectors, and an extensive number of foreign
mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...
including
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU; uz, Ўзбекистон исломий ҳаракати/Oʻzbekiston islomiy harakati; russian: Исламское движение Узбекистана ) was a militant Islamist group formed in 1998 ...
militants. The power of ISIL-KP in the north was further boosted by the defection of Uzbek Taliban commander Qari Hekmat and his followers. Hekmat became the leading commander of the Islamic State in northern Afghanistan, and used his large foreign network to recruit fighters from
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
and to smuggle them into Jowzjan, which had been a "major hub" for various insurgent groups even before the
Taliban insurgency {{Infobox military conflict , partof = the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) and the Afghanistan conflict , image = 2021 Taliban Offensive.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Map of the 2021 Taliban o ...
's beginning. In course of 2017, the Islamic State captured most of
Darzab District Darzab ( fa, درزاب) is the southwesternmost district in Jowzjan province, Afghanistan. It borders Sheberghan District to northeast, Sar-e Pol Province to the west and Faryab Province Faryab (Dari: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of ...
in Jowzjan, and transformed it into its local stronghold. The Taliban subsequently launched at least three major offensives to oust ISIL-KP from Darzab, but all failed. Meanwhile, however, the US military and the Afghan government increasingly targeted Hekmat's network. Hekmat himself was killed in a US airstrike in April 2018, weakening ISIL-KP in the north. Hekmat was succeeded by Mawlavi Habibul Rahman, while Mawlavi's brother-in-law Mufti Nemat became second-in-command for Jowzjan Province. Despite Hekmat's death, several foreign fighters recruited by him remained in Darzab, including Uzbeks,
Tajiks Tajiks ( fa, تاجيک، تاجک, ''Tājīk, Tājek''; tg, Тоҷик) are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajik ...
,
Kazakhs The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...
, Kyrgyz,
Indonesians Indonesians (Indonesian: ''orang Indonesia'') are citizens or people originally from Indonesia, regardless of their ethnic or religious background. There are more than 1,300 ethnicities in Indonesia, making it a multicultural archipelagic coun ...
,
Chechens The Chechens (; ce, Нохчий, , Old Chechen: Нахчой, ''Naxçoy''), historically also known as ''Kisti'' and ''Durdzuks'', are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus in Eastern Europe. "Europ ...
,
Pakistanis Pakistanis ( ur, , translit=Pākistānī Qaum, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. According to the 2017 Pakistani national census, the population of Pakistan stood at over 213 million people, making it the w ...
,
Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...
, and French.


The battle

Hostilities between ISIL-KP and the Taliban intensified in early July 2018, after Islamic State fighters seized a Taliban-held village in Darzab District, and beheaded ten Taliban members they had captured there. In response, Taliban forces launched counter-attacks against ISIL-KP positions in three districts of Jowzjan, including Darzab and Qush Tepa, on 12 July. Fighting also spread to Faryab and Sar-e Pol, where Islamic State militants killed Haji Shakir, the Taliban leader in
Sancharak Sancharak District ( fa, سانچارک) or Sangcharak is a district of Sar-e Pol Province, Afghanistan. Its center is the city of Tukzar or Tokzar. Sancharak district borders Balkh Province in the east. Sancharak District's area is 1089 square ...
. On 15 July, ISIL-KP captured Taliban commander Mullah Burjan in the village of Bibi Maryam, Darzab. His execution three days later caused a further intensification of the clashes. By 18 July, a Taliban source claimed that fighting in Darzab District was restricted to the villages of Aqsai, Qara Yorth, Qarighach, and Tash Jawaz, while ISIL-KP had been allegedly been ousted from Kumarlik, Bibi Mariam and Aqblaq. Sometime in mid-July, the Taliban launched a major offensive to fully evict ISIL-KP from Jowzjan Province. Islamic State commander Mawlavi Habibul Rahman later claimed that the Taliban had amassed 2,000 fighters in Jowzjan from various areas, including
Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces (, '' wilåyat''). The provinces of Afghanistan are the primar ...
, for this operation. Employing their elite/special forces, the
Red Unit The Red Unit ( ps, سره کیتا, Sara kheta; ur, ), also known as the Blood Unit, Red Group, Danger Group, or Taliban Special Forces Unit, is an elite military unit of the Islamic Emirate Army of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, described ...
, the Taliban attacked the Islamic State's stronghold of Darzab from three sides simultaneously. By this time, Darzab was held by about 600 to 700 ISIL-KP fighters according to estimates of the Afghan government. On 22 July, the Taliban overran ISIL-KP at the villages of Mughal and Sardara, Darzab, where they killed Haji Murad (also known as Haji Qumandan), the Islamic State's deputy commander for Jowzjan. In course of heavy combat, the Taliban reportedly inflicted hundreds of casualties on ISIL-KP, and captured much war
materiel Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specifi ...
. By 20 July, 3,500 to 7,000 civilians had been displaced by the fighting. By 30 July, ISIL-KP was reduced to just two villages in Darzab, whereupon its leaders Mawlavi Habibul Rahman and Mufti Nemat decided to contact the Afghan government; they subsequently agreed to surrender in exchange for protection from the Taliban. The
Afghan Air Force The Air Force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Air Force and the Afghan Air Force, is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Royal Afghan Air Force was e ...
then started to bombard Taliban positions to prevent them from capturing the remaining Islamic State forces and to ensure their surrender. Nemat later claimed that the
Afghan National Army Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia * Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...
had also agreed to evacuate them with helicopters, though this came not to pass; instead, the Islamic State fighters had to reach government-held territories on foot. About 245 fighters, alongside their families, subsequently surrendered on 1 August, though some Islamic State fighters had disappeared during the retreat. Nemat later speculated that these militants had possibly defected to the Taliban. Among those who laid down arms were, besides Mawlavi and Nemat, another commander known as "Sibghatullah", about 100
child soldiers Children (defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as people under the age of 18) have been recruited for participation in military operations and campaigns throughout history and in many cultures. Children in the military, includ ...
, and 25 to 30 foreign mujahideen.


Aftermath

Following their surrender, the ISIL-KP fighters were transported with helicopters to Jowzjan Province's center
Sheberghan Sheberghān or Shaburghān ( Uzbek, Pashto, fa, شبرغان), also spelled ''Shebirghan'' and ''Shibarghan'', is the capital city of the Jowzjan Province in northern Afghanistan. The city of Sheberghan has a population of 175,599. It has four ...
. At Sheberghan, the Islamic State militants were treated more like guests than prisoners. This caused great resentment among civilians and soldiers alike, as the militants continued to call their guards, officials and journalists "infidels", and openly "boasted of engaging in acts of extreme barbarism .. such as beheadings and the use of child soldiers", in interviews with the press. Mufti Nemat said that he considered to join pro-government forces with his followers; he had already fought for the government once in the past. Locals of Darzab, however, petitioned Jowzjan's governor to punish the militants for the war crimes they had committed. Several women accused Nemat and his troops of having raped them, while other locals told that the Islamic State fighters had executed over one hundred civilians, including children, and had practised slavery in Darzab. The government was consequently widely criticised for "its unexplained action of providing asylum and protection to IS-K militants", prompting officials to declare that the Islamic State fighters would be brought to justice. The controversial surrender proved to be a "propaganda bonanza" for the Taliban, who contrasted the government's lenient treatment of the ISIL-KP fighters with their own behavior. Taliban spokesman
Zabiullah Mujahid Zabihullah Mujahid ( ps, ; ''Ẕabīḥullāh Mujāhid'' ; also spelled Dhabih Allah Mujahid) is an Afghan official Central spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since 25 October 2021 and Deputy Ministry of Information and Culture si ...
declared that the ISIL-KP fighters who had been captured by the Taliban would be tried in military courts. The Taliban subsequently released a video showing over a dozen foreign Islamic State fighters who had been captured by them; this video circulated widely on Afghan media, pro-Taliban, and pro-
al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
channels. Despite claims by both government representatives and Taliban that this campaign had fully defeated the Islamic State in northern Afghanistan, ISIL-KP still held a few districts of Jowzjan, Sar-e Pol and Faryab.


US claims

The
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
, in its 2018 quarterly report on Afghanistan, claimed the Taliban's victory over ISIL-KP in Jowzjan as its own. Early on, the US and Afghan government tried to label the surrender of ISIL-KP fighters to
Afghan military ("The land belongs to Allah, the rule belongs to Allah") , founded = 1997 , current_form = , branches = * Afghan Army * Afghan Air Force , headquarters = Kabul , website = , commander-in-chief ...
as a "successful operation" conducted by the Afghan military. Although, ISIL-KP surrendered as a result of defeat at the hands of the Taliban. ''
FDD's Long War Journal ''FDD's Long War Journal'' (LWJ) is an American news website, also described as a blog, which reports on the War on terror. The site is operated by Public Multimedia Incorporated (PMI), a non-profit media organization established in 2007. PMI i ...
'' claims that these attempts by the US military highlight just how desperate the US military was to report success in Afghanistan, and how infrequent those successes were in reality.


Fall of Chinese Camp

Chinese Camp was an Afghan National Army base which fell to Taliban control around the time when the Ghazni offensive was going on. Afghan army soldiers, who were deployed at Chinese Camp, heavily criticised the army and the government for abandoning them. They claimed that the Afghan military prioritised ferrying ISIL-KP prisoners in
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
s over using those helicopters to re-supply the camp. The soldiers asked whether those ISIL-KP militants were prisoners or honoured guests of the government.


Notes


References

{{Coord, 36, 00, N, 65, 22, E, display=title 2018 in Afghanistan August 2018 events in Afghanistan Darzab Darzab (2018) Darzab (2018) July 2018 events in Afghanistan Military operations involving the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant