Instead, the Taliban and the Islamic State were duking it out. [I helped write the official lies to sell the Afghanistan war]Afghan elders in the Korengal Valley listen during a meeting with American and Afghan military officials in 2008. (John Moore/Getty Images)With the Taliban fighting the Islamic State in Konar, a peace deal was always going to require at least tacit U.S.-Taliban cooperation against their mutual foe. But inside JSOC, the team working on this mission is jokingly known as the “Taliban Air Force,” one task force member told me. Gen. Joe Ryan told me of the Islamic State last year in a book interview.

Source: Washington Post October 22, 2020 17:03 UTC