Airstrikes in Eastern Afghanistan Destroy Daesh Radio Station
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US airstrikes on a remote region of Afghanistan have destroyed a radio station operated by Daesh (ISIL), American and Afghan officials said Tuesday.
"Voice of the Caliphate" radio operated by Daesh near the border with Pakistan was destroyed in US two airstrikes, according to a US military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media on the subject.
In an official statement, US Army Col. Mike Lawhorn, spokesman for the US-NATO mission in Afghanistan, said: "US forces conducted two counterterrorism airstrikes in Achin district" in Nangarhar province late Monday.
He had no further details, according to The Associated Press.
Daesh has emerged in Afghanistan in the past year, with a military presence in districts near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
The radio station was broadcasting illegally across Nangarhar, spreading the group's extremist message, issuing threats to journalists in the provincial capital Jalalabad and attempting to recruit young men to its cause.
Afghan officials had believed that the radio station, which was set up in late 2015, was operating from mobile facilities that enabled it to move easily across the porous, mountainous border, making it difficult to track down.
The spokesman for the Nangarhar governor, Attaullah Khogyani, said the strikes had also killed 21 members of Daesh group, including five who were working for the radio station.
Radio is a powerful medium in Afghanistan, where most people do not have televisions, and only 10 percent of the population has access to the internet. In contrast, almost everyone has access to radio, with around 175 stations operating across the country.
