Biden vows retribution against ISIS-K; will continue Taliban coordination, as well as evacuation mission
WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – US President Joe Biden, speaking late on Thursday afternoon, following two suicide bombings earlier that day in Kabul, vowed retribution against those responsible for the assaults.
“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget,” Biden said.
“We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he continued. “I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command.”
Over 70 people were killed, most of them Afghans, but the fatalities include 13 US troops: 10 Marines, 2 Army soldiers, and a Navy medic.
Like CENTCOM Commander, Gen. Frank McKenzie, who spoke to journalists earlier that day, Biden attributed the attack to ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, which took credit for the assaults in a posting to its Instagram account.
Biden revealed that he had ordered US commanders “to develop operational plans to strike ISIS-K assets, leadership, and facilities.”
“We will respond with force and precision at our time, at the place we choose, and the moment of our choosing,” he continued, suggesting that could be done “without large military operations.”
US Security Cooperation with the Taliban
In detailing US security procedures at the Kabul airport, Gen. McKenzie described several examples of US coordination with the Taliban on counter-terrorism measures.
The US expects there may well be more attacks from ISIS-K, McKenzie said, “and we’re doing everything we can to be prepared for those attacks.”
“That includes reaching out to the Taliban who are actually providing the outer security cordon around the airfield to make sure they know what we expect them to do protect us,” he added, “and we will continue to coordinate with them, as they go forward.”
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the prospect of continued US dealings with the Taliban, once it forms a government. One of the conditions he laid out for such continued engagement was cooperation on counterterrorism.
Read More: US: We will engage with Taliban, if it serves our interests
This shocks many US journalists who have never really questioned the US war against the Taliban or, more broadly, what the US is trying to achieve in Afghanistan—even as they regularly dismiss the war in Iraq that overthrew Saddam Hussein as an unnecessary disaster.
If it were up to them, Saddam (or his sons) would still be in power. They are fixed on Islamic extremism, as if the extremists acted entirely on their own, and as if there were no other security threats in the region.
Thus, on Thursday, one reporter challenged Biden as to whether it had been a mistake to rely on the Taliban to secure the airport perimeter.
Biden responded by citing what McKenzie had said, suggesting that the US and the Taliban had some shared interests: namely, “ISIS-K doe not metastasize beyond what it is,” and “it’s in their interest that we are able to leave on time, on target.”
“So it’s not a matter of trust, it’s a matter of mutual self-interest,” Biden explained, adding that, like McKenzie, he had seen “no evidence” of Taliban collusion in the ISIS-K attacks.
Completing the Mission
Both Biden and McKenzie stated unequivocally that the US would continue evacuations from Kabul airport, according to its established timetable. To do otherwise would be to give in to terrorism.
“I’ve been in constant contact with our senior military leaders” and “our commanders on the ground,” Biden explained. “They made it clear that we can and we must complete the mission, and we will.”
“We will not be deterred by terrorists. We will not let them stop our mission. We will continue our evacuation,” Biden affirmed.
The US military presence in Afghanistan is slated to end on August 31.