National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster might have announced a major U.S. policy change for Afghanistan.
At a meeting in Kabul with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, McMaster said on Sunday, April, 16, that both ISIS and the Taliban must be defeated in that nation.
McMaster called ISIS “a threat to all civilized people,” and continued, “”I think the Taliban must be defeated as well.”
ISIS uses Afghanistan as a base and a recruiting site, enticing poor, disaffected youths to join the terrorist group.
The Taliban has been struggling for control in Afghanistan since it formed in the late 1970s, armed by the United States to fight the Russian troops, which had invaded Afghanistan the United States.
Since the United States withdrew most of its soldiers in 2014, the Afghan government has been struggling to contain the two terrorist groups on its own.
“No one should support the Taliban, no one should support armed resistance against the Afghan government and the Afghan people,” said McMaster. “What we would like is all countries in the region to play a productive role, a positive role and to help the Afghan people.”
The United States dropped its Massive Ordnance Air Burst (MOAB) bomb on an ISIS hideout late last week. It is not clear if this, and the stronger rhetoric, indicate that President Trump plans to increase U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.
The United States currently has some 10,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan in training and supervisory roles.