An Afghan security personnel stand guard in the checkpoint of airport after a suicide attack in Jalalabad province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Militants in Afghanistan set off a suicide blast.

An Afghan security personnel stand guard in the checkpoint of airport after a suicide attack in Jalalabad province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Militants in Afghanistan set off a suicide blast. AP Photo

The US Is Helping the Taliban Fight ISIS, CENTCOM's Top General Says

Gen. McKenzie turned heads with testimony about “very limited support” for an enemy who is also an enemy of an enemy.

The United States has provided “very limited support” to the Taliban in its fight against ISIS in the eastern Afghanistan province of Nangarhar, U.S. Central Commander head Gen. Frank McKenzie told lawmakers Tuesday. 

McKenzie provided almost no details about the support, a startling revelation that comes as critics of the peace deal with the Taliban warn against trusting the group’s counterterrorism promises.

According to a defense official who spoke to Defense One later in the day, American forces “essentially stopped engaging, in general, Taliban units actively engaged in fighting with ISIS-K,” the ISIS branch in Afghanistan. The U.S. also carried out strikes on known ISIS-K locations, that official said, but emphasized that those strikes were not coordinated with the Taliban. 

In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, McKenzie was pressed by skeptical lawmakers on whether the Taliban has the military capability to act as a counterterrorism force against ISIS or al Qaeda in the war-torn country, should the U.S. leave.

"Over the last several months in eastern Afghanistan, we've watched the Taliban compress and crush ISIS presence on the ground in southern Nangarhar province — and they've been very effective doing that,” McKenzie said. “It was a bloody mess, but they did it. In fact, ISIS really now no longer holds ground in Nangarhar province.” 

Then, asked directly if the Taliban had any U.S. assistance, he answered: “There was very limited support from us – and I would characterize that as very limited support.”

Defense Department officials, speaking later in the day to reporters at the Pentagon, declined to provide any details. 

"I don't have any specifics to provide you, but that's the hope, in that: every force there is countering ISIS. Every force there is countering al Qaeda,” said Rear Adm. William Byrne, vice director on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats and hawkish Republicans have been raising alarm bells about the newly minted agreement between the Taliban and Washington, saying it places too much faith in the group’s will and capability to act as a legitimate counterterrorism partner. The agreement stipulates that the Taliban will guarantee Afghanistan will not be used by al Qaeda or other terror groups to attack the United States. That is a lower bar than the U.S. had sought earlier: that the Taliban explicitly renounce al Qaeda, which carried out the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Before the deal was signed on Feb. 29, 22 Republicans led by Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the daughter of the former vice president, warned that the Taliban “has a history of extracting concessions in exchange for false assurances” and asked for assurances that Trump administration would not be “pretending that the Taliban is a reliable counter-terrorism partner.”

Yet Trump himself has appeared enthusiastic about the idea that the Taliban might help take up the counterterrorism mission against ISIS and al Qaeda that remains one of the reasons officials cite for remaining in Afghanistan. 

“They will be killing terrorists, killing some very bad people,” Trump said in a White House news conference the day the accord was signed. “We very much hope they will be doing what they said.”

McKenzie’s remarks on Tuesday caught former Pentagon officials by surprise. Jason Campbell, who was Trump’s top Afghanistan policy official at the Defense Department until late 2018, said that he was unaware of any support provided to Taliban at least until his departure. 

“‘Limited support’ could be as basic as, ‘we’ve agreed not to target Taliban formations in this part of the country as long as they are willing to continue their offensive movements against ISIS elements’,” he said. (The Taliban and ISIS have been clashing in several provinces for several years.) “It could be just a sort of a nonaggression pact on the part of the U.S. and the Taliban [in that region].”

“That wouldn’t necessarily float up to the policy level in the Pentagon if it were decided by a more localized battalion or brigade or the [Resolute Support] commander,” he said. “That certainly could have happened without it being the subject of a deputies committee meeting.”

But he said that if it’s anything more significant than what the defense official described to Defense One — including passing any intelligence information on ISIS locations through informal channels, for example — ”I think anything beyond that beyond that would likely have to be looked at closely to classify it as ‘very limited.’”

For one thing, Campbell noted, the rules about sharing intelligence with any non-U.S. forces are extremely tight — ”nevermind an organization like the Taliban.”

McKenzie gave a dark assessment of the implementation of the deal so far, telling lawmakers that he would recommend against a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, as envisioned by the deal, if Taliban attacks on Afghan forces continue at the pace that they have signed the Feb. 29 signing. The first wave of the drawdown, from roughly 13,000 to 8,600, began yesterday. McKenzie said military planning for the complete withdrawal — expected in 14 months if the Taliban abides by its counterterrorism commitments — has yet to begin. 

“To date, Taliban attacks are higher than we believe are consistent with an idea to actually carry out this plan,” he said. 

While it’s clear that the Taliban is actively fighting ISIS, he said, he is far less sanguine that they will sever ties with al Qaeda. 

“It is more a question of will than capability, and that will have to be developed in the fullness of time,” McKenzie said of the Taliban’s counterterrorism capabilities. “It's less a question of will against ISIS than it is against al Qaeda."

“I defer to no one in my distrust of the Taliban,” McKenzie said. 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.