{"id":1385828,"date":"2022-03-17T09:06:33","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T13:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1385828"},"modified":"2022-03-17T09:07:29","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T13:07:29","slug":"u-s-hasnt-conducted-a-single-strike-against-isis-k-since-leaving-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-hasnt-conducted-a-single-strike-against-isis-k-since-leaving-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Hasn\u2019t Conducted a Single Strike Against ISIS-K Since Leaving Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fu-s-hasnt-conducted-a-single-strike-against-isis-k-since-leaving-afghanistan%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1385828&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<div class=\"RichTextArticleBody\">\n<div class=\"RichTextArticleBody-body\">\n<p><span class=\"ArticlePage-articleBody-firstLetter\">T<\/span>he Pentagon confirmed that it has not conducted any strikes against the Islamic State\u2019s Afghan affiliate since the U.S. exited the country seven months ago, despite a <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense-national-security\/six-months-on-biden-administration-wont-identify-kabul-airport-bomber\">suicide attack<\/a> that killed Americans at Kabul&#8217;s airport. <\/p>\n<p>The Taliban rapidly took over following a <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/foreign\/botched-assessment-of-ukraines-will-to-fight-echoes-afghan-intel-failures\">chaotic<\/a> U.S. military withdrawal last year, and an August <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense-national-security\/six-months-on-biden-administration-wont-identify-kabul-airport-bomber\">suicide bombing<\/a><\/u> by ISIS-K killed 13 U.S. service members during evacuation efforts at the airport, with the Taliban <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/us-reliance-taliban-security-original-sin-gallagher\">providing security<\/a><\/u> outside. <\/p>\n<p>Gen. Kenneth \u201cFrank\u201d McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?518680-1\/centcom-africom-commanders-testify-global-threats-security-challenges&#038;live&#038;vod\">appeared<\/a> before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, where he said there had been no strikes conducted in Afghanistan since the drawdown. He agreed terrorist groups are more able to plan terrorist attacks when there is no sustained counterterrorism pressure against them. <\/p>\n<div class=\"Enhancement\">\n<div class=\"Enhancement-item\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, asked what the U.S. is doing to overcome the reduction in its counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan since leaving and how ISIS-K and al Qaeda were rebuilding in the country. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have not undertaken any strikes in Afghanistan since the 1st of September,\u201d McKenzie said. \u201cWe continue to watch carefully as ISIS grows. They\u2019ve gone through the winter. They\u2019ve been able to carry out some high-profile attacks. They still aspire to attack the United States and our partners abroad. So, we\u2019re going to watch very carefully what the Taliban is able to do and not able to do in terms of controlling ISIS. Because as we all know, the Taliban will actually fight ISIS, and they have a theological dispute, and so they are in opposition.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, asked if ISIS-K was getting stronger or weaker and questioned what CENTCOM has been doing to punish ISIS-K for the airport attack. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we are concerned about the developmental trajectory of ISIS-K in Afghanistan,\u201d McKenzie replied, but he declined to answer the second question publicly. <\/p>\n<p><b><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/foreign\/botched-assessment-of-ukraines-will-to-fight-echoes-afghan-intel-failures\">BOTCHED ASSESSMENT OF UKRAINE&#8217;S WILL TO FIGHT ECHOES AFGHAN INTEL FAILURES<\/a><\/b> <\/p>\n<p>Sen. Angus King, a Maine Independent, asked if the Taliban was putting pressure on ISIS-K, and McKenzie said it was tough for them. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Taliban is attempting to maintain pressure on ISIS,\u201d the CENTCOM commander said. \u201cThey\u2019re finding it difficult to do so. ISIS has been able to execute some high-profile attacks even in Kabul over the last several months. We\u2019re coming out of the winter \u2014 traditionally, this would now begin the fighting season. It is my expectation that ISIS attacks will ramp up in Afghanistan as we go into the summer. \u2026 The Taliban is gonna go after ISIS. They have done so in the past. But it\u2019s gonna be a tough fight.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The U.S. estimates ISIS-K to have between 3,000 to 5,000 fighters, Christopher Landberg, the acting principal deputy coordinator for the State Department&#8217;s bureau of counterterrorism, <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/briefings-foreign-press-centers\/new-initiatives-in-the-fight-against-isis-k\">said<\/a><\/u> last month. <\/p>\n<p>McKenzie said the Taliban \u201cdid not help themselves\u201d when they released \u201cover a thousand ISIS fighters\u201d from Pul-e-Charkhi and Parwan prisons, which \u201csignificantly empowered the group within Afghanistan, and now they\u2019re gonna reap the results of that action.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The Taliban government includes leaders from the <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/state-department-repeats-taliban-haqqani-network-distinct-entities\">Haqqani network<\/a><\/u>. The Taliban, Haqqanis, and al Qaeda <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/foreign\/garland-says-he-doesnt-know-if-al-qaeda-threat-will-increase\">are<\/a><\/u> <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/zawahiri-video-al-qaeda-alive-well-taliban-takeover\">deeply intertwined<\/a><\/u>. <\/p>\n<p>McKenzie claimed the Taliban has \u201cdone some things that are very public in order to limit\u201d al Qaeda in Afghanistan and that \u201cthey have done some things publicly that would tend to make you think they at least want to send signals that they\u2019re doing.\u201d He said, \u201cIt remains to be seen if that is translated into action.\u201d He said the Taliban would be less tough on al Qaeda than on ISIS-K. <\/p>\n<p>McKenzie <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense-national-security\/pentagon-revises-timeline-for-when-afghanistan-terror-groups-can-launch-attacks\">said<\/a> the DOD believes ISIS-K will have &#8220;external attack capability&#8221; between &#8220;12 to 18 months\u201d \u2014 a longer timeline than the six to 12 months Dr. Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, presented to the committee back in October. <\/p>\n<p>The U.S. government <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense-national-security\/six-months-on-biden-administration-wont-identify-kabul-airport-bomber\">refuses<\/a> to identify <u><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense-national-security\/pentagon-finds-us-service-members-were-killed-by-blast-in-afghan-airport-attack\">the Kabul airport bomber<\/a><\/u>, despite numerous reports of anonymous officials naming the attacker as Abdul Rehman al Logari, who had been freed from a prison near Bagram Air Base in August when the Taliban took it over. <\/p>\n<p><b><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/b> <\/p>\n<p>McKenzie also said he was \u201ctracking\u201d roughly 153 U.S. citizens and 2,100 long-term permanent residents still in Afghanistan. The general said: \u201cIt\u2019s my understanding that if someone wants to leave, and they\u2019re a U.S. citizen, they\u2019re going to be able to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pentagon confirmed that it has not conducted any strikes against the Islamic State\u2019s Afghan affiliate since the U.S. exited the country seven months ago, despite a suicide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1385828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1385828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1385828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1385828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1385828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}