Pentagon says IS in Afghanistan contained but remains potentially an "enormous" threat

The Pentagon said Thursday the footprint of the Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan had been "significantly decreased," but warned that the extremist group still had the potential to be an "enormous threat."

"We do think that they (IS) are being contained more than they probably were last fall," said Charles Cleveland, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, at a Pentagon briefing held here. "Again, our concern with them is that they've got the ability to regenerate very quickly, and they've got the ability to catch fire, as we've seen in other places."

The lessened presence of the IS in Afghanistan came after the U.S. military began targeting IS in January. In the first three months of 2016, U.S. forces conducted just under 100 counterterrorism strikes, among which between 70 and 80 were focused on IS.

"About three months or so ago, we thought that Daesh was probably in about six to eight (Afghan) districts. Today, we think they're probably in about two or three districts," said Cleveland, referring to an acronym for the group in the Arabic language.

Also, the containment of the IS could be attributed to attacks from Taliban, locals, and the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces against the group, he added. Endit