JALALABAD, Afghanistan—On Aug. 2, Atiqullah was at home enjoying the final hours of the Eid al-Adha holiday when news broke of an attack on the prison in Jalalabad, only a few miles from his house. Gunfire and explosions echoed all night, and the armed jailbreak turned into a running gun battle that lasted 20 hours before government forces put it down.
The site of the attack was particularly worrying because the Jalalabad prison holds hundreds of Taliban fighters—and, potentially worse, fighters claiming allegiance to the Islamic State, a terrorist group that has made this eastern Afghan city one of its primary targets.
