US reliance on Taliban safety was ‘unique sin’ that led to suicide bombing, GOP Rep. says

A key Home Republican argues {that a} prime normal’s determination to show down the Taliban’s provide to permit america to safe Kabul and as a substitute depend on the Taliban and the terrorist Haqqani community was the “unique sin” that led to the suicide bombing by which 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican and Marine veteran, grilled Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, throughout a Wednesday listening to earlier than the Home Armed Companies Committee.

Gallagher requested McKenzie if it was true that the Taliban supplied to permit the U.S. to keep up safety over all of Kabul, not simply the airport, when the Afghan authorities collapsed on Aug. 15. The overall confirmed it and stated he turned the provide down.

McKenzie stated he met with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund, now the Taliban’s deputy prime minister, on Aug. 15 “to cross a message to him that we have been withdrawing and in the event that they tried to disrupt that withdrawal, we’d punish them severely for that.” McKenzie added: “As a part of that dialog, he stated, ‘Why don’t you simply take safety for all of Kabul?’ That was not why I used to be there. That was not my instruction. And we didn’t have the sources to undertake that mission.”

The overall added: “I didn’t take into account that to be a proper provide, and it was not the rationale why I used to be there, so I didn’t pursue it.”

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The Republican requested if the Taliban’s provide was ever relayed to President Joe Biden, and McKenzie stated the provide was additionally made within the presence of the president’s particular envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, and that McKenzie conveyed the provide to his chain of command, however he didn’t verify that it reached Biden.

Gallagher advised the Washington Examiner: “I view that call to disregard the Taliban’s provide to allow us to safe all of Kabul as a substitute of simply HKIA [Hamid Karzai International Airport] as a important determination. And the truth that McKenzie dismissed it as nonserious, and that he doesn’t know whether or not it acquired reported up the chain to the president appears vital to me.”

“You may’ve taken the provide to the president and requested for extra troops to safe Kabul … We’d’ve prevented being totally dependent upon the Taliban and the Haqqani community for safety across the airport, which I imagine is the unique sin which led to the suicide bombing.”

Gallagher requested the final whether or not the Taliban’s Badri 313, an elite Taliban unit that Gallagher stated “focuses on suicide bombing assaults,” was offering safety in entrance of the Kabul airport in the course of the evacuation, and McKenzie admitted the unit was a part of it.

The congressman advised the Washington Examiner that Taliban complicity within the Kabul suicide bombing was a minimum of believable: “I don’t have proof that they opened the floodgates and allowed an ISIS-Ok suicide bomber, however I feel at a minimal it deserves additional scrutiny as a result of this can be a group that has a historical past with suicide bombings accountable for safety for the time being a suicide bombing assault kills 13 Individuals. At a minimal, I feel it proves the folly of relying upon the Taliban as our safety companion.”

McKenzie has forged doubt on the Taliban letting the ISIS-Ok bomber by means of and steered the Taliban prevented different assaults in opposition to the airport.

Gallagher additionally requested the final whether or not the ISIS-Ok suicide bomber had been held on the jail at Bagram Airfield, and McKenzie stated they have been nonetheless making an attempt to determine that out.

When the congressman requested the final if al Qaeda had renounced an oath to the Taliban, McKenzie stated, “The Taliban and al Qaeda have a really shut relationship, and I don’t count on the Taliban to noticeably intervene with their basing or repositioning in Afghanistan.”

The congressman advised the Washington Examiner that McKenzie ought to know that al Qaeda has “repeatedly” sworn allegiance to the Taliban, including, “There’s nothing within the current historical past of Afghanistan that implies the Taliban is conflicted about its relationship with al Qaeda … And the truth that Haqqani is a part of the federal government makes me additional involved.”

The Republican identified to McKenzie that Sirajuddin Haqqani is the brand new inside minister for the Taliban authorities, and McKenzie stated there was no proof the Haqqani community has damaged with al Qaeda.

Gallagher advised the Washington Examiner: “I feel we’re placing numerous our future technique the place it rests on a sure set of assumptions across the Taliban performing as rational actors making an attempt to maximise utility and positive factors from the worldwide neighborhood, which I feel is flawed, and in addition that over-the-horizon counterterrorism operations can work successfully when your solely companion on the bottom is the Taliban, whose closest companion on the bottom is al Qaeda. I feel these two issues are large issues for our technique going ahead.”

The congressman stated, “We nonetheless need to do counterterrorism … And if we don’t perceive the fundamental operational relationship between al Qaeda and the Taliban, how are we going to try this?”

Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, stated this week that the U.S. evacuation and withdrawal in Afghanistan was “a logistical success however a strategic failure.” Gallagher advised the Washington Examiner he strongly disagreed with it being a logistical success, pointing to a whole bunch of Individuals and tens of hundreds of Afghan allies being left behind, billions of {dollars} of U.S. army gear falling into Taliban palms, reliance upon a “terrorist enemy” for airport safety, “humiliation” within the eyes of the world, “10 civilians, seven of whom have been youngsters , slaughtered in a foul drone strike” by the U.S. in Kabul, and “13 American service members useless that didn’t must die.” He requested: “If that’s success, then what the hell does failure appear to be?”