Afghanistan fighters linked to IS in Syria: top U.S. commander

PanARMENIAN.Net - A senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan has said that fighters allied with Islamic State (IS) are in contact with the militants' Syrian headquarters, BBC News reports.

Gen Sean Swindell, leader of the unit training Afghan special forces, said that disgruntled Taliban fighters have established a "franchise".

But he added that IS in Afghanistan is not as serious as in Libya or Iraq.

There have been serious clashes between the new group and the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan in recent weeks.

The first signs of "IS in Khorasan" were in Pakistan's frontier region in January. A number of ex-Taliban fighters, including one Afghan commander, pledged allegiance to the new group.

Now, backing up IS threats, pictures of Taliban fighters being both beheaded and shot have appeared on social media in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The new battles are a complex security challenge for Afghan forces in their first summer of fighting without international combat support on the ground.

This year has seen more than 4,200 civilians killed or injured across the country. It look as if it will set a dismal new record of the highest casualties by the end of the year, topping even 2014.