Pentagon plans to bomb Taliban if Kabul attacked

It is one option being assessed as part of the future strategy for protecting the Afghan government after US troops pull out.

A security post in Kabul this week. Picture: AFP

Defence chiefs are drawing up plans to bomb Taliban targets if the militant group threatens to seize Kabul after US troops withdraw from Afghanistan, officials said.

The move is one option being assessed by the Pentagon as part of the future strategy for protecting the Afghan government after all American soldiers are pulled out by the end of next month.

The Taliban have already made advances as US and ­coalition troops have begun leaving, and the Pentagon is concerned their next step will be to target ­Afghanistan’s major cities and finally move on Kabul.

An imminent fall of Kabul is seen as the most likely development to lead to US military intervention, sources told The New York Times.

However, officially, the Pentagon backed off any suggestion of bombing the Taliban at some ­future date.

“The President has been clear: the mission our troops had been sent to achieve in Afghanistan has been accomplished,” John Kirby, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said. “The terrorist threat emanating from Afghanistan has been greatly diminished. We will now focus on ensuring that no ­additional threats to our homeland can emerge from that ­country.”

US military sources said that airstrikes from a Gulf state or from a carrier in the Arabian Sea would have limited time to pinpoint and then target Taliban positions ­before needing to return to their bases. Throughout 20 years in ­Afghanistan, the US-led coalition had the use of Bagram, Kandahar and Shindand air bases to launch attacks. The CIA and US special forces also had a base in Jalalabad to mount Reaper drone attacks.

To back up airstrikes on the Taliban, al-Qa’ida and other ­extremist groups such as Islamic State, the US also relied on a huge intelligence infrastructure, with manned and unmanned surveillance aircraft and a network of highly classified computers linked to a headquarters in Kabul.

Neither the bases nor the intelligence infrastructure will be functioning after the pull-out has been completed.

Flying time from Qatar, the nearest US air base, is around two hours.

Aircraft or drones on bombing missions from the Gulf would have little time to loiter over a target area before dropping munitions, raising issues about potential collateral damage.

The Pentagon plans to have special operations forces available in the region outside Afghanistan. But they are aimed at counter-terrorist missions rather than counter-insurgency operations against the Taliban.

Launching airstrikes against the Taliban to stop them from capturing Kabul would provoke ­opposition in congress. No decisions have yet been made.

The Times