The D Brief: Taliban momentum; US acquiesces to Russian pipeline; US seeks talks with N. Korea; Honorary Green Berets; And a bit more...
By Bradley Peniston and Jennifer Hlad
July 22, 2021 11:07 AM ET
Taliban’s “strategic momentum”: The group is pressing toward key cities in Afghanistan as U.S. forces work toward a withdrawal that is 95 percent complete, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters Wednesday.
Milley: “This is going to be a test now of the will and leadership of the Afghan people—the Afghan security forces and the government of Afghanistan.”
U.S. forces remaining after Aug. 31 will aim to prevent international terrorism, SecDef Lloyd Austin said alongside Milley. “Our major focus going forward is to make sure that violence, terrorism, cannot be exported from Afghanistan to our homeland, and so we’ll maintain the capability to be able to not only observe that but also address that if it does emerge,” Austin said, adding that the Taliban pledged in 2020 to not provide a sanctuary for al-Qaida in the future. AP has more, here.
Milley was asked about recent reports that he feared Donald Trump would attempt a coup. He did not deny he had concerns that Trump would not cede power or that he discussed those concerns with other Joint Chiefs. But he said “not one time” did he or the other service chiefs violate the oath they took to defend the Constitution, Defense One’s Tara Copp reported. “The military did not and will not be involved in domestic politics. We don’t arbitrate elections. That’s the job of the judiciary, the legislature and the American people. It is not the job of the U.S. military.” Read on, here.
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/07/the-d-brief-july-22-2021/183968/
