US likely to accelerate drone war in Afghanistan

The United States is reportedly going to increase its drone surveillance and strikes in Afghanistan despite formally pulling out troops after implementing a policy of death and destruction for twenty years.

According to the US media, President Joe Biden has asked his top military commanders to carry out more drone strikes against the shadowy Daesh-K terrorist group in Afghanistan in the wake of a suicide bombing near the Kabul airport. 

Some observers believe that the Biden administration, which is under pressure over its chaotic withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan, is seeking to signal a message to militant groups in the war-ravaged country that military operations are likely to continue even after August 31.

In a fiery speech at the White House on Tuesday, Biden explicitly reiterated the US will continue its operations against the little-known terrorist group Daesh-K.

“To Daesh-K: We are not done with you yet,” Biden said, vowing a “tough, unforgiving, targeted, precise strategy.” 

Terrorists struck the Kabul airport on Thursday, killing at least 180 people, mostly Afghan civilians and about a dozen US troops. A terrorist group, called Daesh-K, which was not known to anyone before Thursday’s deadly bombing, claimed the responsibility for the attack.

Following the bombing, the US troops have carried out several drone attacks across Afghanistan.  

Although the US claimed that these drone attacks were aimed at destroying the targets belonging to the Daesh-K group, the local sources have reported nine civilian deaths in the vicinity of the Kabul International Airport as a result of these attacks.  

The Taliban militant group that has taken control of Afghanistan since earlier in August has, however, denounced such strikes as violations of the country’s sovereignty. 

Concerning the latest drone attack, Bilal Kareemi, a Taliban Spokesperson, told CNN that it was "not right to conduct operations on others' soil" and that the US should have informed the Taliban. "Whenever the US conducts such operations, we condemn them," he said.

The Taliban are poised to run Afghanistan again 20 years after they were removed from power by American forces following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and removed the Taliban from power. American forces occupied the country for about two decades on the pretext of fighting against the Taliban. But as the US forces left Afghanistan, the Taliban stormed into Kabul, weakened by continued foreign occupation.

ME