The head of Islamic State in Afghanistan - described as the mastermind behind high-profile attacks including an assault on a military hospital that claimed at least 50 lives - has been killed, U.S. and Afghan officials said. The militant's group is reportedly affiliated with ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
The U.S. military has dealt a major blow to an already degraded but resilient ISIS-K in recent months.
The agency's analysis of information from United States forces in Afghanistan "suggests that the security situation in Afghanistan has not improved this quarter".
Whereas Trump called for significant changes to how the US fights IS in Iraq and Syria, he has said far less about the much longer USA war in Afghanistan.
On Sunday, both Afghan and USA military officials confirmed the head of IS in Afghanistan, Sheikh Abdul Hasib, was killed in the April 27 combined attack against a cave-and-tunnel complex in Achin.
Two U.S. Army Rangers, including Sgt. Josh Rodgers of Bloomington, died in the raid.
USA officials have said Hasib was the target of the April 26 operation.
During the operation on April 27, two U.S. Army Rangers were accidentally killed by friendly fire during the more than three-hour fight.
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IS announced it was moving into Afghanistan and Pakistan when it declared its so-called Khorasan Province (sometimes called ISIS-K) in 2015, and has since carried out a number of deadly and high-profile attacks.
The statement, following an earlier announcement by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, said Hasib directed the March 8 attack on the main Kabul military hospital by a group of militants disguised as doctors.
ISIS has proven resilient despite this uptick in raids and airstrikes.
The U.S. has been in Afghanistan since 2001, when American troops overthrew the Taliban regime that was in power at the time.
Obama also loosened rules so USA forces could target the Taliban with airstrikes in limited situations, for example when Afghan troops faced danger of being overrun or needed support from American warplanes for major operations.
The Pentagon estimates about 1,000 IS fighters remain in Afghanistan.
Last month, Gen. Nicholson authorized the use of the American military's largest non-nuclear munition, dubbed the "mother of all bombs", on a network of ISIL-K tunnels and caves in Nangarhar that made it hard for the USA and their Afghan partners to combat the jihadists.
USA combat operations against the Taliban officially ended in 2014, but special forces have continued to provide support to Afghan troops.
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