Via Telegraph:

The U.S. military’s highest-ranking general in the Afghanistan War acknowledged the Islamic State’s growing presence in the country on Tuesday, telling the Senate Armed Services Committee that the group is “operationally emergent” and focused on taking over a specific city in the eastern part of the country. […]

Campbell said Tuesday that the Islamic State has shown up in provinces ranging from Helmand in the south to Sari Pul in the north. But the group is focused primarily in Nangarhar, and wants to make the city of Jalalabad there its capital, he added. Strategically located at the intersection of the Kabul and Kunar rivers about 90 miles east of Kabul, it is also home to a major military installation at the Jalalabad Airport.

Citing interviews with refugees, Reuters reported in June that the Islamic State had seized substantial territory in Nangarhar, with hundreds of people pledging to join the group and burning poppy fields that finance the Taliban’s military operations. More recently, the Islamic State released a video in which it beheads a man in the province, claiming that he is a spy.

The Afghan army announced last month that it was launching a broad operation in Nangarhar to flush out insurgents. It is expected to target both Taliban and Islamic State militants, who continue to fight each other.