ISIS Flag Raised in the 'Tora Bora' Mountains

According to media reports, the Islamic State (ISIS) has seized parts of the mountainous region of 'Tora Bora' in eastern Afghanistan. A local radio station affiliated with extremist militants, named 'Radio Caliphate,' announced on Wednesday that the ISIS flag has been raised over a complex of tunnels and caves in the Tora Bora area of 'Nangarhar Province.' Previously, Taliban fighters used this complex. Meanwhile, several informed sources and local confidants have confirmed that control of Tora Bora and its surrounding areas has fallen into the hands of the Islamic State. They have also stated that in recent days, hundreds of families residing in the area have been forced to leave their homes. Meanwhile, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, stated that fighting continues. According to some reports, the number of ISIS members in the country has reached two thousand, but the Afghan Ministry of Defense has denied these reports, emphasizing that the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan is no more than 600 to 700. The provinces of Kunar, Nuristan, and several areas in eastern and northern Afghanistan are among the regions where ISIS forces are believed to be stationed. The Afghan Ministry of Defense has stressed that government military and security forces are currently conducting operations against ISIS forces in about twenty provinces of Afghanistan and have prevented the advance of these forces. Al-Qaeda fighters led by Osama bin Laden took refuge in this network of caves and tunnels in the Tora Bora mountainous region of Afghanistan after the bloody September 11, 2001 attacks when they were pursued by American forces. During the deadly al-Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York and the Pentagon in 2001, approximately three thousand people were killed.