Anti- Daesh operations to be stepped up: US officials

KABUL, top American officials said on Friday.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the top American general in Afghanistan issued the warning at separate news conferences in Brussels.

Resolute Support Commander Gen. John Nicholson told reporters the war on Daesh in Nangarhar province had already been escalating this year.

The campaign would be further ramped up during the unilateral ceasefire announced by President Ashraf Ghani last week, said the general, who was not sure of the Taliban joining the truce.

For his part, Mattis believed the presidential initiative would put American service members in a better position to combat terrorist groups like the IS and remnants of Al-Qaeda.

He said: “If the Taliban take advantage of the ceasefire, then many of surveillance assets that we have overhead can be reoriented to ISIS-K, to al-Qaida and other foreign terrorists...”

PAN Monitor/mud