WASHINGTON — The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday that a U.S. military drone strike killed a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner who had been accused of serving as a recruiter for the Islamic State in Afghanistan.
Abdul Rauf, 34, who was released from the prison at Guantanamo in 2007, died with seven other suspected militants who were targeted in the airstrike Monday, according to Rear Adm. John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary.
U.S. military officials have said that the Islamic State — a radical group based in Iraq and Syria — has a marginal presence in Afghanistan but has been looking to expand its influence. Rauf was a former Taliban commander who fell out with that group and swore allegiance to the Islamic State “probably no more than a couple of weeks ago,” Kirby said.
Kirby described the Islamic State’s reach in Afghanistan as “nascent and aspirational” and said Rauf had few followers. But he said Rauf and the others were targeted because they had been planning attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces.
The U.S. military and its NATO allies formally ended combat operations in Afghanistan on Dec. 31. Although about 10,600 U.S. troops remain, they are primarily deployed to train Afghan security forces and provide arms-length support for the fight against the Taliban.
U.S. officials will launch counterterrorism operations and attack Taliban fighters if they directly threaten U.S. or Afghan personnel.
