Two Decades After 9/11, Pentagon Is Providing Covert Air Support To The Taliban
Nearly two decades following 9/11 and the initial invasion of Afghanistan which ostensibly had as its objective the removal and destruction of the hardline Islamist Taliban government, the United States military is providing covert support to the same "outlawed" Taliban with the latest aim of booting ISIS from the country.
A report in The Washington Post on Thursday details that this secret assistance focuses on the Pentagon providing air power to the Taliban as the group wars against against ISIS in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunar Province.
The Post's reporting is sourced to members of the elite Joint Special Operations Command counterterrorism task force based at Bagram air base, who say the strikes are helping the Taliban gain ground against ISIS, seen as the greater and more immediate US nemesis, despite as recently as earlier this year the US being engaged in major bombing operations on the Taliban.
Here are some of the shocking details as reported in The Washington Post:
The report notes that while there's no direct communication between the JSOC team overseeing the mission, which is shockingly enough dubbed in the report “Taliban Air Force” based on JSOC's own internal joking nickname, they listen in on Taliban communications in order to track the anti-ISIS frontline fighting.
"Our secret Taliban air force. Inside the clandestine U.S. campaign to help our longtime enemy defeat ISIS," the WaPo story emphasizes in its lead-in.
The report underscores: "Taliban units on the ground appeared willing to take the help, waiting to assault Islamic State positions until they heard and saw the explosions of bombs and Hellfires."
Recall too that last March US Central Command chief Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie testified before the House Armed Services Committee that the Taliban had been receiving "limited" Pentagon support against ISIS given the group had proven "very effective" at missions to "compress and crush[ing]" the ISIS stronghold in the country's Nangarhar province.
The US has been engaged in long-running peace talks with the Taliban based in Doha with the ultimate aim of leaving Afghanistan stable enough for a full American exit from the longest war in US history. However, few realized just how 'cooperative' this relationship is becoming on the ground.
Nearly two decades following 9/11 and the initial invasion of Afghanistan which ostensibly had as its objective the removal and destruction of the hardline Islamist Taliban government, the United States military is providing covert support to the same "outlawed" Taliban with the latest aim of booting ISIS from the country.
A report in The Washington Post on Thursday details that this secret assistance focuses on the Pentagon providing air power to the Taliban as the group wars against against ISIS in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunar Province.
The Post's reporting is sourced to members of the elite Joint Special Operations Command counterterrorism task force based at Bagram air base, who say the strikes are helping the Taliban gain ground against ISIS, seen as the greater and more immediate US nemesis, despite as recently as earlier this year the US being engaged in major bombing operations on the Taliban.
Here are some of the shocking details as reported in The Washington Post:
Through JSCOC sources the Post was able to learn this is part of an active policy to provide air support via drone strikes in places where Taliban commanders are battling ISIS for territory:
The report notes that while there's no direct communication between the JSOC team overseeing the mission, which is shockingly enough dubbed in the report “Taliban Air Force” based on JSOC's own internal joking nickname, they listen in on Taliban communications in order to track the anti-ISIS frontline fighting.
"Our secret Taliban air force. Inside the clandestine U.S. campaign to help our longtime enemy defeat ISIS," the WaPo story emphasizes in its lead-in.
The report underscores: "Taliban units on the ground appeared willing to take the help, waiting to assault Islamic State positions until they heard and saw the explosions of bombs and Hellfires."
Recall too that last March US Central Command chief Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie testified before the House Armed Services Committee that the Taliban had been receiving "limited" Pentagon support against ISIS given the group had proven "very effective" at missions to "compress and crush[ing]" the ISIS stronghold in the country's Nangarhar province.
The US has been engaged in long-running peace talks with the Taliban based in Doha with the ultimate aim of leaving Afghanistan stable enough for a full American exit from the longest war in US history. However, few realized just how 'cooperative' this relationship is becoming on the ground.
