Joe Says The Taliban Have Changed - Apparently They Did Not Get The Memo
Their ideology is a cult of death.
Sheikh Shir Ahmad Haqqani, the Taliban Deputy Governor of Maidan Wardak in Afghanistan, recently delivered a speech at the graduation ceremony for a new class of Taliban commandos. Fifty brand new top-of-the-line Taliban fighters, all kitted out in the latest in American military gear including weapons were congratulated on having completed their military and ideological training. The graduates responded by promising to sacrifice their lives in order to defend the new Islamic Emirate.
In fact, the Taliban run a whole range of such training camps and have actively bragged for years about the number of fighters they train in these facilities. Nothing has changed since Biden ordered the disastrous withdrawal from Kabul. The Taliban are pressing ahead and preparing for the next phase of their jihad.
Taliban commandos are intended to engage in the most dangerous and most murderous attacks. During fighting with American forces, Taliban commandos were often the ones who infiltrated the ranks of pro-American Afghan forces and carried out some of the deadliest attacks our personnel experienced. In one such attack in Wardak Province Taliban commandos killed over 100 Afghan security personnel.
One Taliban commando infiltrated the bodyguard of the Governor of Kandahar in 2018 and killed General Raziq a key pro-American Afghan figure. Another commando almost killed General Miller, the commander of Resolute Support and U.S. Forces β Afghanistan. The Taliban have claimed in the past that they plan to βtrain up to 2,000 recruits at a single time.β
One such facility, the Al Fateh Military Camp, is used to train elite Taliban formations, including its Red Unit Taliban shock troops, suicide teams, and other so-called martyrdom-seekers. Senior Taliban figures go to great lengths to celebrate those who deliberately martyr themselves in attacks on the enemy. In the U.S. military, we praise those who β despite a desire to live β are willing to die for their nation. The Taliban celebrate those who seek death and embrace it. Their ideology is a cult of death.
All over Afghanistan the Taliban are pressing ahead with building a large, potent fighting force capable of spreading jihad beyond Afghanistanβs borders. If anything, the pace of activity at Taliban training facilities has accelerated since we left. The Taliban are not embracing peace. For them, the war is not over until the caliphate dominates the globe.
Much has been made of the weapons and gear we left behind in Afghanistan for the Taliban to use. This is a significant issue, but a focus on physical equipment alone misses the broader picture. It is not simply that the Taliban are not standing down and walking away from jihad. It is that they are improving and enhancing their capability to do so every day.
The commando classes and other special teams being created now are intended not just to keep the Taliban in fighting trim but to give them the ability to perform more effectively in future operations. We have made much for many years of the βragtagβ nature of Taliban forces. Leaving aside the fact that these warriors just beat us in a protracted conflict, the guys we face in future confrontations, wearing our gear and carrying our weapons, may be a lot more professional and dangerous than those we encountered before.
Biden and his mandarins want desperately for the American people to forget about Afghanistan and move on. They pretend that the threat from the Taliban and their terrorist allies has faded and that we can rest easy here at home. None of this is true.
While Joe is doing nothing the Taliban are preparing to broaden the conflict and continue the war. Biden may say the Taliban have changed. Apparently, they did not get the memo.
I wonder if the new graduates go through the Talibanβs Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion training? If they donβt, then I think we may still have the upper hand.
They have changed. More deadly that before.