KABUL - A number of Afghan senators on Sunday voiced concerns over the deteriorating security situation involving Daesh insurgents in some districts of eastern Nangarhar province.
According to the senators, Daesh fighters are operating in 15 districts in Nangarhar but they say the entire eastern section of the country is vulnerable.
Senators warned that the security scenario of the province is deteriorating and government must act fast to overcome the fragile situation. They say that Daesh has beheaded two people in Nangarhar recently.
They also called on government to take steps to prevent Daesh from recruiting new soldiers in the province.
"Daesh associated fighters practically operate in 15 districts of Nangarhar province," senator Lotufllah Baba said.
"Expansion of Daesh fighters must be curbed, otherwise the consequences will be catastrophic," another senator Farhad Sakhi warned.
On the issue of the government's anti-terror strategy, the senators asked leaders of the National Unity Government (NUG) to also tackle the security issues posed by Daesh on the Kabul-Jalalabad highway.
"We need to come with a comprehensive plan and talk directly with the US and Pakistan about the issue. Because we face threats from two sides including Daesh and the Taliban, I don't understand what is really happening," senator Zalmai Zabuli said on Sunday.
In addition, senate speaker Fazel Hadi Muslimyar called on the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to take decisive steps against militants associated with Daesh and eliminate them.
"Government and the security institutions are obliged to eliminate the enemy wherever they find it," Muslimyar said.
Only last week, local officials of Nangarhar said that hundreds of families have been displaced in the province following clashes between Taliban and Daesh insurgents.
Ahmad Zia Abduzai, Provindal Governor spokesman confirmed that the families have been displaced in Bati Kot district. He did not have numbers but said there was urgent need for aid for these people.
Officials also said that both sides have sustained massive casualty tolls in the past month.
Recently, former president Hamid Karzai again expressed concerns over the rise of Daesh militants in Afghanistan, blaming their expansion into Afghanistan on foreign support.
He warned in an interview with Russian state-funded television network (RT) that the rise of newly-emerged Daesh extremists in Afghanistan would threaten neighboring Russia and China.
The ex-president believes the expansion of Daesh – which has seized several cities in Iraq and Syria – was impossible "without a foreign backing."
"So, if you hear ever in the coming days, or months, or years that Daesh is on the rise in Afghanistan, and is strong and expanding militarily, it will mean that it is a foreign-backed force intending to destabilize the region, particularly Central Asia, China and Russia," Karzai said. (Tolonews)