Battle of Darzab (2018)
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(2 weeks and 6 days)
changes Taliban capture Darzab District
| Battle of Darzab | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) War on terror Islamic State–Taliban conflict | |||||||||
 Islamic State fighters who surrendered to the government at the battle's end | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Taliban |
 Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (airstrikes on the Taliban, 30–31 July)[1] | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Mullah Burjan  [2] Haji Shakir †[3] |
 Mawlavi Habibul Rahman  Mufti Nemat "Sibghatullah" [4] Haji Murad †[5] | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
|
Several contingents |
Qari Hekmat's network[6]
| ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| c. 2,000 (IS-KP claim)[1] | 600–700 (Afghan gov. estimate)[7] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Disputed; probably heavy[a] |
Disputed; probably heavy[a] 245 surrender to Afghan government[9] | ||||||||
| Several civilians killed,[2] 3,500–7,000 displaced[10] | |||||||||
The Battle of Darzab (12 July – 1 August 2018) was a major conflict between the Taliban and the Islamic State's Khorasan Province (ISIS–K) who fought each other over control of Jowzjan Province's Darzab District in Afghanistan. Following heavy clashes, ISIS–K was defeated, with most of the group's forces in Jowzjan Province killed or captured.
Despite both being opposed to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and its Western allies, the Taliban and the Islamic State are fierce rivals who have fought each other since 2015.[1][11] The Islamic State's Afghan branch, namely the so-called "Khorasan Province" (often abbreviated ISIS-K or IS-KP), has extensively recruited disaffected ex-Taliban,[4] and its mere presence threatens the Taliban's claim to be "the only legitimate opposition" in Afghanistan.[8] One of the theaters where the two insurgent groups have repeatedly clashed is the country's north, most importantly the provinces of Jowzjan, Sar-e Pol, and Faryab.[4][8]
The forces of IS-KP in northern Afghanistan consist of local Taliban defectors,[4] and an extensive number of foreign mujahideen including Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan militants. The power of IS-KP in the north was further boosted by the defection of Uzbek Taliban commander Qari Hekmat and his followers.[8] Hekmat became the leading commander of the Islamic State in northern Afghanistan, and used his large foreign network to recruit fighters from Central Asia and to smuggle them into Jowzjan, which had been a "major hub" for various insurgent groups even before the Taliban insurgency's beginning.[12] In course of 2017, the Islamic State captured most of Darzab District in Jowzjan, and transformed it into its local stronghold. The Taliban subsequently launched at least three major offensives to oust IS-KP from Darzab, but all failed.[3] 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 IS-KP in the north. Hekmat was succeeded by Mawlavi Habibul Rahman,[12] while Mawlavi's brother-in-law Mufti Nemat[1] became second-in-command for Jowzjan Province.[9] Despite Hekmat's death, several foreign fighters recruited by him remained in Darzab, including Uzbeks, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Indonesians, Chechens, Pakistanis, Turks, and French.[3][6] On the 15th of April 2018, NATO’s Resolute Support mission revealed that Afghan Special Security Forces backed by U.S. special operations forces “eliminated” 22 Islamic State – Khorasan Province fighters in a nightime raid in Darzab district, Jowzjan province. The U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service published video of the raid.[13]
The battle
Hostilities between IS-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 IS-KP positions in three districts of Jowzjan, including Darzab and Qush Tepa, on 12 July.[8] Fighting also spread to Faryab[3] and Sar-e Pol,[8] where Islamic State militants killed Haji Shakir, the Taliban leader in Sancharak.[3] On 15 July, IS-KP captured Taliban commander Mullah Burjan in the village of Bibi Maryam, Darzab. His execution three days later[2] caused further intensification of the clashes.[8] 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 IS-KP had been allegedly ousted from Kumarlik, Bibi Mariam and Aqblaq.[2]
Sometime in mid-July, the Taliban launched a major offensive to fully evict IS-KP from Jowzjan Province.[4] Islamic State commander Mawlavi Habibul Rahman later claimed that the Taliban had amassed 2,000 fighters in Jowzjan from various areas, including Helmand Province, for this operation.[1] Employing their elite/special forces, the Red Unit,[4] the Taliban attacked the Islamic State's stronghold[1] of Darzab from three sides simultaneously.[4] By this time, Darzab was held by about 600 to 700 IS-KP fighters according to estimates of the Afghan government.[7] On 22 July, the Taliban overran IS-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.[5][3] In course of heavy combat, the Taliban reportedly inflicted hundreds of casualties on IS-KP,[a] and captured much war materiel.[4] By 20 July, 3,500 to 7,000 civilians had been displaced by the fighting.[10]
By 30 July, IS-KP was reduced to just two villages in Darzab, whereupon its leaders Mawlavi Habibul Rahman and Mufti Nemat decided to contact the Afghan government;[1] they subsequently agreed to surrender in exchange for protection from the Taliban.[1][4][14] The Afghan Air Force then started to bombard Taliban positions to prevent them from capturing the remaining Islamic State forces and to ensure their surrender.[1] Nemat later claimed that the Afghan National Army 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.[1] About 245 fighters,[9] 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.[1] Among those who laid down arms were, besides Mawlavi and Nemat,[4][11] another commander known as "Sibghatullah",[4] about 100 child soldiers,[15] and 25 to 30 foreign mujahideen.[1]
