Oh, so now American air support in Afghanistan is possible?
Helping the Taliban kill ISIL would be "possible" but definitely stupid:
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday it's "possible" the United States could work with the Taliban in operations against the Islamic State affiliate based in Afghanistan, but cautioned that the "ruthless" group may not change its ways.
Good Lord, did the Taliban just engineer the Beltway Awakening in which we switch sides to them?
Aside
from the "ruthless" nature of the Taliban, I find it astounding that after
refusing to be the Afghan army's air force, that Milley would
entertain the possibility of being the Taliban air force. That's what "operations" mean when we are over the horizon.
And without
boots on the ground to make sure our targets are people we want to kill, our drones would simply be part of the Taliban
enforcement arm against rivals. Their allies would be protected from our
drone strikes. And our power would help push ISIL into subservience to the Taliban.
This is a predictable problem:
Without American special forces on the ground in Somalia with our local allies, our drone strikes seeking to kill jihadis could actually be counter-productive. People forget that without old fashioned meat sack sources on the ground, the high tech strike systems could just be a means to kill the wrong people for the wrong people.
I mean, the new and improved--now with nuance!--Taliban would never lie to us, right?
