US Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, March 4, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP file photo)

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley has said that the American military could coordinate with the Taliban on any future strikes against Daesh-K, a shadowy terrorist group that was not known to anyone before the last week�s bombing at the Kabul airport.

Terrorists struck the Kabul airport on August 26, killing at least 180 people, mostly Afghan civilians and over a dozen US troops. Daesh-K claimed the responsibility for the attack.

Following the bombing, the US military carried out several drone attacks across Afghanistan without getting permission from the Taliban, who denounced the strikes as a violation of the country�s sovereignty.

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

"We don�t know what the future of the Taliban is, but I can tell you from personal experience that this is a ruthless group, from the past, and whether or not they change remains to be seen," Milley told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

"As far as our dealings with them at that airfield or in the past year or so, in war, you do what you must in order to reduce risk to mission and force, not what you necessarily want to do," he added.

Pressed on any possibility of coordination with the Taliban against Daesh-K, Milley replied: "It�s possible."

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also spoke alongside Milley. He revealed that US commanders worked with the Taliban "on a very narrow set of issues" to get as many people evacuated as possible.

"I would not make any leaps of logic to broader issues," Austin said. "It�s hard to predict where this will go in the future with respect to the Taliban."

He later added: "We�re going to do everything that we can to make sure that we remain focused on ISIS-K, understanding that network and at the time of our choosing in the future, hold them accountable for what they�ve done."

Two weeks before the Kabul bombing, American broadcaster CNN aired an interview with a "senior" commander of the Daesh-K terrorist group from a Kabul hotel while the US-backed government was still in power in Afghanistan.

Shockingly, the Daesh-K commander told CNN reporter Clarissa Ward that the group was "laying low and waiting for its moment to strike," but the broadcaster apparently did not share this vital information with US authorities or maybe it did and they simply ignored it.

And, the Pentagon instructed senior US military leaders to make preparations for an imminent "mass casualty event" just 24 hours before the bombing at Kabul�s international airport on August 26.

Speaking from a secure video conference room at the Pentagon on August 25, Austin updated the US military�s top leaders on the fast-deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and told them to make preparations for a deadly terrorist attack. And then the terrorist struck.

LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/23774

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