660: Taliban continue to take more territory; US stymied @billroggio
Image: During Operation Mongoose, a US Army (USA) AH64A Apache attack helicopter is called in to destroy a large cave suspected storing a Taliban weapons cache, during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; in re: The Taliban: said to be an ongoing negotiation for US to leave Afghanistan. Four years of this policy: it’s transformed from “we’ll fight” to “we’ll withdraw.” Trump and Biden policies are close to the same. Agreement says the US must withdraw all its troops. Expect a major breach of agreement by both sides, which will protract the war. Taliban already has a great deal of control (which is a win for its ally al Qaeda). US killed an al Q leader in Afghanistan in the last two weeks. The small antiterrorism task force the US intends to leave in Afghanistan will not work. Expect Taliban in Kandahar City, or maybe Kabul. ISIS is enemy to Taliban and al Q; is unhappy that Taliban negotiated and agreement, but ISIS has a small footprint there, esp since al Q and Taliban have direct support from Pakistan. Islamic State killed many in an assault on a school in Kabul today; the other two groups have diminished killing civilians.