US says 2 ISIS-K operatives killed in drone strike in Afghanistan, 1 wounded....

 US says 2 ISIS-K operatives killed in drone strike in Afghanistan, 1 wounded....

Initial reports said the strike had killed one operative, who was described as the “planner”. President Biden has said the US will retain “over-the-horizon” capability for counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan.

The US department of defence has said two “planners and facilitators” of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Khorasan (ISIS-K) group were killed and one was wounded in the Friday drone strike carried out in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan bordering Pakistan . Initial reports said the drone strike had killed one ISIS-K operative, who was described as the “planner”.

Two “high-profiled targets were killed and one was wounded”, said Major Gen Hank Taylor at a Pentagon news briefing on Saturday. “Without specifying any future plans I will say that we will continue to have the ability to defend ourselves (and) leverage over-the-horizon capability to conduct counter-terrorism operations as needed,” he added.

The general and the Pentagon press secretary John Kirby who briefed reporters jointly as they have every morning for some days now, refused to share operational details of the drone strike but the fact the general mentioned “over-the-horizon” capability, the strike seemed to be have been carried out from outside Afghanistan, from another country.US President Joe Biden has said the US will retain “over-the-horizon” capability for counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan even after all American and coalition forces have left the country, which is expected by August 31.

The killed and wounded operative were not identified by name and were only described as “planners and facilitators”, and were hit in one “single mission”, not multiple missions.

“I won’t speak on the details of this, of these individuals, or what their specific roles might be,” said Kirby, when asked what these three individuals did and if they had directly played any role in planning and facilitating the Kabul airport that killed more than 170 Afghans and 13 military personnel.

Biden has vowed to “hunt down” those responsible for the Kabul airport attack, which caused first American casualties of his presidency. “We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said in an address to the nation on Thursday.