Mckenzie says US military likely to accelerate operations against Taliban
BAGRAM AIRFIELD (Reuters) - The US military is likely to accelerate the pace of its operations in Afghanistan to counter an increase in Taliban attacks, a senior US general said on Monday following Washington’s suspension of peace talks with the insurgents.
US Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, said during a visit to Afghanistan that the Taliban overplayed its hand in peace negotiations by carrying out a spate of high profile attacks, including one that killed a US soldier last week.
The Taliban, which controls more territory than at any time since 2001 when it governed the country, said on Sunday that more American lives here would be lost.
McKenzie declined to comment on the Taliban statement. But he noted that US troops in Afghanistan were hardly “defenceless.”
“We’re certainly not going to sit still and let them carry out some self-described race to victory. That’s not going to happen,” McKenzie told a group of reporters travelling with him during a stop at Bagram Airfield in northeastern Afghanistan.
Asked whether increasing operations against the Taliban could include airstrikes and raids by US and Afghan commandos, McKenzie responded: “I think we’re talking a total spectrum.”
“And, again, whatever targets are available, whatever targets can be lawfully and ethically struck, I think we’re going to pursue those targets,” he said.
The insurgents' determination to step up both attacks on provincial centres and suicide bombings even as peace talks were taking place was a major factor in pushing US President Donald Trump to announce on Saturday that he was cancelling here the talks aimed at ending America's longest war of 18 years.
The halt to the negotiations has fuelled fears of even more violence across Afghanistan, with heightened security warnings in the capital Kabul and other centres ahead of a presidential election scheduled for Sept. 28.