Now that the US has left Afghanistan, hawks in Washington are warning al-Qaeda and ISIS will gain a foothold in the country. But the Taliban deny there is an al-Qaeda presence in the country and say the local ISIS affiliate is not the same as the ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
“We do not see anyone in Afghanistan who has anything to do with al Qaeda,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at a news conference. “We are committed to the fact that, from Afghanistan, there will not be any danger to any country.”
The local ISIS affiliate, known as ISIS-K, took credit for attacks against the Taliban in Jalalabad on Sunday. But Mujahid denied that the group has a significant presence in Afghanistan. He also explained that ISIS-K is not the same as the ISIS that once controlled vast swathes of Iraq and Syria.
“The ISIS that exists in Iraq and Syria does not exist here. Still, some people who may be our own Afghans have adopted the ISIS mentality, which is a phenomenon that the people do not support,” Mujahid said. “The security forces of the Islamic Emirate are ready and will stop them.”
ISIS-K was initially started by mostly Pakistani militants who previously fought under the umbrella of the Tehrik-e Taleban Pakistan (TTP). The view that they are not an international terrorist organization is also shared by US military officers who have fought against ISIS-K in the Kunar province.
The US has previously supported the Taliban against ISIS-K by flying drones as air support. The Pentagon is hinting at further US intervention in Afghanistan in the form of airstrikes targeting ISIS-K, but the Taliban insist they don’t need any more help to fight the group.
The Taliban and Afghanistan do not need any more “help” like the drone strike that killed 10 family members.
Or countless other weddings, funerals, farmers harvesting fields on lunch break, birthday party sleepovers , clinics, schools. All fell into memory hole.
Drone pilots can see their victims. My guess is a CO looking over their shoulder gives them orders to fire, kids be d*mned.
It is sobering that after such a first class scandal like killing a family — our politicians and military still drone on and on about using more of such “smart” drone technology.
These people are only interested in protecting themselves from blame, and their solution is — dig in deeper. To justify their precious tool of terrorizing foreign populations into submission.
It is high time to evaluate the entire program. To find out exactly how is it possible to decide that loading 2-10 year olds in a car is equivalent to militants jumping into a car.
How is it possible to confuse an ordinary city residential neighborhood with a militant hideout. One would think that by now, after two decades in Afghanistan, military would actually have a firm idea as to the whereabouts of militants, their weapons and communications?
Or is it just a science fiction, and drone operations are not even intended to be a tool executing military goals. That its main mission is just to show off what can be done, and create an atmosphere of helplessness.
Whatever the case may be — it appears that there is no political energy in body politics to ask some serious questions. When it comes to weaponry, be they politicians, civic leaders, academia, media or corporate suppliers — everyone is in everyone’s pocket.