Pentagon says they will not ask the Taliban for permission to launch strikes in Afghanistan against ISIS or al-Qaeda

 

A Taliban fighter in Afghanistan. Newsweek/AFP.

The Pentagon has announced that they will not ask the Taliban for permission to launch strikes in Afghanistan against ISIS or al-Qaeda. Newsweek. The US pulled out of Afghanistan this August but has said they will continue to target ISIS and al-Qaeda fighters. This is counter to the policy in many countries where these terror groups operate, usually the US military gets permission to strike first. It is unclear if the Taliban would allow these strikes but planes flying over Afghanistan have permission to use more defensive measures to defend against Taliban anti-air fire. Pentagon officials fear that Afghanistan will become a new base for terror groups. 

My Comment:

I guess US involvement in the war in Afghanistan isn't actually over. It sounds as though the Pentagon is actively planning airstrikes against al-Qaeda and ISIS. That isn't surprising, I never thought that Joe Biden actually wanted to wash his hands of Afghanistan. We won't ever get out of there. 

As for the Taliban I expect them to be very upset with this. I do think that they would be perfectly fine with the United States bombing ISIS. They are mortal enemies after all. Bombing the hell out of them would help prevent a continuation of the war between ISIS and the Taliban. And ISIS is still launching attacks against the Taliban, including suicide bombings. Remember, though 13 Americans died in the bombing during the evacuation, dozens of Taliban fighters died as well. 

ISIS won't be the sticking point though. It will be al-Qaeda, or what is left of it. Al-Qaeda is of course a shadow of their former selves and the core groups is mostly extinct. They mostly exist through their affiliates. Regardless though, al-Qaeda and the Taliban are allies. They fight together and they are not enemies like the Taliban and ISIS are. If we start bombing al-Qaeda we will be bombing the Taliban as well. 

I do think that there is a chance that al-Qaeda could use Afghanistan as a base to launch further attacks. Given how destroyed al-Qaeda is it would take a long time for them to regroup but with a safe haven they could do it. With the Taliban giving them cover I think the only way we could stop that from happening is by bombing them. But it will probably take them years, if not decades. 

What can the Taliban do to prevent these kinds of strikes? It's unclear. I assume that the Afghan government had some rudimentary anti-air capabilities but I don't think they are much of a threat after the Taliban captured them. In the end I don't think they can do much of anything to shoot down a US aircraft.