{"id":53709,"date":"2021-05-06T21:25:12","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T21:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/06\/us-sends-more-warplanes-to-afghanistan-to-protect-troop-pullout\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:14:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:14:30","slug":"us-sends-more-warplanes-to-afghanistan-to-protect-troop-pullout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/05\/06\/us-sends-more-warplanes-to-afghanistan-to-protect-troop-pullout\/","title":{"rendered":"US sends more warplanes to Afghanistan to protect troop pullout"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The United States has deployed a dozen additional warplanes to bolster protection of American and coalition troops making <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2021\/05\/01\/us-nato-forces-begin-final-phase-of-afghan-pullout\/\" target=\"_blank\">a final withdrawal from Afghanistan<\/a> as Taliban insurgents step up pressure on Afghan government forces, top Pentagon officials said Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said F-18 attack planes have been added to a previously announced package of air and sea power \u2014 including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/04\/23\/navy-carrier-air-force-b-52s-army-rangers-to-help-protect-afghanistan-pullout-officials-say\/\" target=\"_blank\">the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier<\/a> in the North Arabian Sea and six Air Force B-52 bombers based in Qatar \u2014 that can be called upon as protection for withdrawing troops. Also part of that previously announced package are several hundred Army Rangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. officials said before the withdrawal began that t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2021\/04\/30\/pentagon-preparing-for-taliban-attacks-during-us-withdrawal\/\" target=\"_blank\">hey expected the Taliban to attempt to interfere<\/a>, even as the insurgents continue pressuring government forces, especially in Helmand and Kandahar provinces in southern Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/04\/30\/pentagon-preparing-for-taliban-attacks-during-us-withdrawal\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6565451.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Pentagon preparing for Taliban attacks during US withdrawal from Afghanistan<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Taliban said it will consider the United States to be in violation of the agreement for missing the May 1 deadline for full withdrawal.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere continue to be sustained levels of violent attacks\u201d by the Taliban against Afghan security forces, Milley said, speaking alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a Pentagon news conference. He said there have been no attacks against U.S. or coalition forces since they began pulling out of the country on about May 1, and he described the Afghan forces as \u201ccohesive,\u201d even as speculation swirls around Kabul\u2019s ability to hold off the Taliban in the months ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both Milley and Austin, a retired Army general, are veterans of the war in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey\u2019re fighting for their own country now, so it\u2019s not a foregone conclusion, in my professional military estimate, that the Taliban automatically win and Kabul falls, or any of those kinds of dire predictions,\u201d Milley said. \u201cThat\u2019s not a foregone conclusion. There\u2019s a significant military capability in the Afghan government. We have to see how this plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP21126675166992.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-91637\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP21126675166992.jpg.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP21126675166992.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP21126675166992.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP21126675166992.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,682 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP21126675166992.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, left, listens as Gen. Mark Milley, right, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington on May 6, 2021. (Susan Walsh\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Milley said the Pentagon is considering options for continued support of Afghan government forces after the troop withdrawal is complete, including possibly training Afghan security forces in another country. That would be in addition to urging the Congress to authorize continued financial assistance to the Afghan forces, which has been in the range of $4 billion a year for many years, and possibly providing aircraft maintenance support remotely from another country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe haven\u2019t figured that out 100% yet,\u201d Milley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Milley said Afghanistan\u2019s air force is central to the strategy for holding off the Taliban, but the durability of those planes is in some doubt. The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in an April 30 report that without continued foreign contractor support, none of the Afghan air force\u2019s airframes can be sustained as combat effective for more than a few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Austin acknowledged that holding off the Taliban without American support on the ground \u201cwill be a challenge\u201d for the Afghans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re hopeful that the Afghan security forces will play a major role in stopping the Taliban,\u201d Austin said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing unfold is what we expected to unfold \u2014 increased pressure\u201d on the Afghan forces. He asserted that government forces launched a counterattack this week against the Taliban in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, and that they were \u201cperforming fairly well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/05\/02\/top-us-general-afghan-forces-could-face-bad-possible-outcomes\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP21121128137856.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Top US general: Afghan forces could face \u2018bad possible outcomes\u2019<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Gen. Mark Milley declined to say whether Afghanistan&#039;s security forces are fully ready to stand up to the Taliban without direct international backing during a potential Taliban offensive.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Joe Biden announced last month that all American troops will withdraw from Afghanistan by Sept. 11. NATO allies have said they will do the same, and troops have already begun leaving. Austin said the \u201cdrawdown is going according to plan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon has said there were about 2,500 U.S. troops there in recent months, and Milley said in an interview last weekend that the total rises to 3,300 if special operations forces are counted. Military commanders have said that additional forces will flow in temporarily to help with security and logistics for the drawdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pentagon officials have said they will do all they can to monitor terror threats and help the Afghans from other locations in the region, described as \u201cover the horizon.\u201d But officials have not detailed where those would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, has warned that Afghanistan\u2019s military \u201cwill certainly collapse\u201d without some continued American support once all U.S. troops are withdrawn. He has expressed concerns that Afghan forces may be unable to prevent the Taliban from taking more ground, and said the Afghans will need help and funding to maintain and fly their aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Milley said last week that Afghan government forces face an uncertain future and, in a worst-case scenario, some \u201cbad possible outcomes\u201d against Taliban insurgents as the withdrawal of American and coalition troops accelerates in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, Milley took a hopeful tone in speaking about the government forces avoiding a collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is 300-plus thousand (in the) Afghan army, Afghan police,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s their country. They\u2019ve been leading the fight for several years now. We\u2019ve been supporting them, for sure. But they\u2019ve been leading the fight. And I\u2019m a personal witness &#8230; that the Afghan forces can fight.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gen. Mark Milley said F-18 attack planes have been added to a previously announced package of air and sea power that can be called upon as protection for withdrawing troops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":82077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,23,88,12,26,62,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2484,1354],"class_list":["post-53709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"3XG6HKM4I5GH3JPEY5PPJAEHQE","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/05\/06\/us-sends-more-warplanes-to-afghanistan-to-protect-troop-pullout\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US sends more warplanes to Afghanistan to protect troop pullout - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gen. Mark Milley said F-18 attack planes have been added to a previously announced package of air and sea power that can be called upon as protection for withdrawing troops.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US sends more warplanes to Afghanistan to protect troop pullout\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gen. Mark Milley said F-18 attack planes have been added to a previously announced package of air and sea power that can be called upon as protection for withdrawing troops.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/05\/06\/us-sends-more-warplanes-to-afghanistan-to-protect-troop-pullout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Navy Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-06T21:25:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T09:14:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Burns, The Associated Press, Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Robert Burns, The Associated Press, Lolita C. 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