Taliban takeover not a foregone conclusion: Milley
The US military launched airstrikes this week in support of Afghan forces fighting Taliban, including in the strategically important province of Kandahar, officials said on Thursday.
The top US military leader on Wednesday expressed doubts if a Taliban victory is imminent in Afghanistan, contrary to a reported intelligence assessment.
“There are a range of possible outcomes in Afghanistan,” General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said at a Pentagon news conference with secretary of defence Lloyd Austin. “A negative outcome, a Taliban automatic military takeover, is not a foregone conclusion,” he said.
“The Afghan security forces have the capacity to sufficiently fight and defend their country, and we will continue to support them where necessary in accordance with the guidance from the president and the secretary of defence,” Milley said.
Asked why the Taliban with 75,000 military personnel appear to be winning against the Afghan military of 300,000 with 20 years of US training and support, Milley said “warfare is not just about numbers” but also about “will and leadership” to fight and prevail.
Milley said roughly 212 district centres are under Taliban control. “That’s half of the 419 in all. And the Taliban haven’t captured yet any of the 34 provincial capitals. Although the Taliban are putting pressure on the outskirts of probably about half of them - 17 of them, in fact - and what they’re trying to do is isolate the major population centres,” Milley said.
US launches airstrikes to support Afghan forces
The US military launched airstrikes this week in support of Afghan forces fighting Taliban, including in the strategically important province of Kandahar, officials said on Thursday.
The US has a variety of combat aircraft based in West Asia within range of Afghanistan. Asked by a reporter about news reports of a Navy FA-18 airstrike in the Kandahar area, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said, “In the last several days, we have acted, through airstrikes, to support the ANDSF,” using an acronym for the Afghan national defence and security forces. “But I won’t get into technical details of those strikes,” Kirby said.
With inputs from agencies