Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley met with his NATO counterparts in Greece over the weekend to discuss cooperation on surveillance and potential airstrikes in Afghanistan, what the Pentagon calls “over the horizon capabilities.”
“We are going to talk about over the horizon capabilities and where allies think appropriate that they can make a contribution, we’re certainly open to that,” Milley told reporters ahead of the meeting. “There are opportunities where alliance members may choose to work closely with us on these over the horizon capabilities.”
After President Biden ordered the Afghanistan withdrawal at the end of April, Pentagon leaders were scrambling to try and maintain the ability to bomb Afghanistan by seeking basing agreements with neighboring Central Asian countries, such as Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. But the US failed to negotiate any agreements and now has to settle for flying surveillance and launching potential airstrikes in Afghanistan out of bases in the Gulf region or from aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea.
Milley and other NATO military leaders say their goal in maintaining these “over the horizon capabilities” is to prevent terrorist groups from gaining a foothold. But the only group that appears to be active is ISIS-K, a sworn enemy of the Taliban. The Taliban has a clear interest in preventing further Western intervention in the country and has said they don’t need help from other countries to fight terrorist groups.
In June, the US started launching airstrikes in Afghanistan from outside the country. The last known US airstrike in Afghanistan was conducted on August 29th. The Pentagon initially claimed it killed an ISIS-K member, but due to media scrutiny, it had to admit it killed no ISIS fighters. Instead, 10 civilians, including seven children, were killed by the US drone strike.
The August 29th strike was just the latest civilian massacre in Afghanistan by the US. Earlier in August, US airstrikes that targeted Lashkar Gah destroyed a school and a health clinic, killing at least 20 civilians. If the US continues to bomb Afghanistan after the pullout, it’s almost a certainty that more civilians will be killed.
WE ARE MONSTERS!!!
Someone should tell Milley the war is over.
What? the master of the “righteous strike”?
Maybe the Chinese will give him a call…
I chuckled. Good one.
The bomb factories have to keep running……
Just say No nato
A lot of NATO is likely to tell the US to pound sand on this one, especially after the recent mess with France.
Is the US looking to construct a massive airbase in Greece or does it already exist?
Let it go already!
Ir is it just a motion to go through to satisfy those that cannot accept this loss of Afghanistan?
A pattern seems to be forming. With all the moaning and unhappiness with US and UK (Australia has just become US aircraft carrier), this may be an act. Macron seems intent to insert himself into Middle East and North Africa, while Germany has been allotted the role of managing East Europe, Balkans and of course Russian Western front. US, UK have taken on Asian front, primarily China and Russian East. Russian foreign minister commented on creation of new military alliance — AUKUS, as being created to confront China and Russia.
This may be in response to the fact that no country would give US basing rights from which to attack Afghanistan.
This is a clear message to Japan, India, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and others, that US now has a powerful land-based capabilities in Asian region, and that their land facilities or military assets are not essential to US operations. This will fix the limitations of other smaller bases in Indo-Pacific.
It is the shame Australia had to be deprived of its Asian markets — because that will happen once their territory becomes militarized.
The Taliban has said they don’t need help from other countries to fight terrorist groups but the US clearly does. How the Greeks are supposed to help our targeting escapes me.
Has it ever occurred to anyone in that 5 sided chicken coupe that the Taliban are our natural ally?.. And if we had confided in them our suspicions about that aid worker this monumental failure could have been avoided.
Iran helped us there, until Dubya blew them off. The arrogance before the US fall was longstanding and breathtaking.
If what I am reading about gen. Miller is true, he should be in high security prison for insubordination and other attendant crimes. This guy is accused of trying to insert himself into the nuclear chain of command at the top, with the power to decide who gets attacked with nukes and who does not in complete violation of the constitution. If true, he should be booted out of the military and face charges in a competent court..