Pentagon suggests Haqqani network ‘co-mingling’ with Taliban following Condition Dept calls them ‘separate entities’
The Pentagon reported on Saturday that there is “co-mingling” amongst the Haqqani community and the Taliban in Afghanistan – a working day immediately after the Condition Dept. had identified as them separate entities.
The network’s leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is deputy chief of the Taliban and his uncle Khalil Haqqani was positioned in charge of stability in Kabul soon after the militants seized the city previous week.
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Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby was questioned by Fox Information about irrespective of whether the U.S. regarded as the Taliban and the Haqqani network “different entities.” State Dept. Push Secretary Ned Cost experienced described them as these kinds of the day ahead of when questioned if the security coordination with the Taliban prolonged to the Haqqani network.
“No, it does not,” Value stated on Friday. “The Taliban and the Haqqani Network are different entities.”
On Saturday, Kirby at first stated he was not likely to supply a characterization of the Taliban or Haqqani. He was then pressed on the reality Haqqani is deputy leader of the Taliban and also has a $10 million bounty on his head.
“We know that there is a specified total of commingling listed here. I indicate, you can find a marbling, if you will, of Taliban and Haqqani,” he reported, but explained he was pushing again on the relevance of that to the evacuation out of Kabul.
Later on Saturday, a Point out Dept. spokesperson informed Fox Information that the Haqqani Community and the Taliban “are individual entities, but they are affiliated.”
“The Condition Section has extended famous the affiliation in between the Haqqani Network and the Taliban,” the spokesperson stated. “As we have reported, any details sharing with the Taliban has been targeted on pretty distinct tactical threats about the airport and resolving distinct challenges all around access to the airport. We have been obvious about that level of coordination.”
The U.S. specified the community a terror group in 2012 and has been linked to bombings and other attacks — and also has ties to al Qaeda.
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The group had also attacked the U.S. embassy in Kabul in 2011 and is blamed for “the largest truck bomb ever constructed,” a 61,500-pound system intercepted by Afghan protection forces in 2013.
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“The Haqqanis expose the lie that there is a line between Taliban and other jihadist teams, especially al Qaeda,” retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, a Trump-era countrywide protection adviser, advised The Wall Road Journal Thursday.
The Pentagon announced at a press meeting that it had taken out two “significant-profile” ISIS-K terrorists in an air strike late Friday, coming soon after the terror assault on Kabul Airport on Thursday that killed 13 U.S. service associates and dozens of Afghans.
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.