Islamic State militants kill police chief in eastern Afghanistan

Zawahari’s remarks came in a 14-minute audio and video message posted online, the US-based monitor SITE Intelligence Group said on Saturday.

Nicholson is sending his recommendations to senior leaders this week on how many American troops should remain in the country next year.[Alex Brandon/AP Photo] Gen. John Nicholson, the top USA commander in Afghanistan, has been in the country three months as a replacement for former US commander Gen. John Campbell.

Since Obama announced the end of combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014, USA involvement has been limited to an advisory capacity, with active participation only when in defense of their own troops, the defense of the Afghanistan troops they were advising, or in a counter-terrorism role against al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, and in situations where there was as specific threat that justified a response.

The pledge comes as al Qaeda is facing rivalry from the Islamic State, which has also made inroads into Afghanistan where the Taliban have been waging a guerrilla war since they were ousted from power in 2001.

Some Afghan insurgent commanders have broken away from the Taleban to pledge support for ISIS, though it operates largely in Iraq and Syria, and is active in parts of North Africa.

The 9,800 USA troops still in Afghanistan, however, would still not be involved in direct combat.

Last month, the Taliban named Akhundzada to lead the Afghan militant group.

Akhundzada, Islamic legal scholar who was one of former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour’s deputies, was appointed a few days after Mansour was killed by a USA drone attack in a remote border area just inside Pakistan. It has as many as 25,000 fighters in the region, while Al Qaeda boasts about 100 to 300 affiliates and ISIS having up to 3,000 members.

The US forces were earlier accompanying the Afghan special forces only when it was needed, according to the US officials said. Pakistani officials say they thought Mansour was in fact preparing to enter long-stalled peace talks with the government.

The Afghan Taliban has vowed to continue fight as the US President Barack Obama approved broader role for the US forces in Afghanistan.