Pentagon: ‘Increasing Number of Taliban Commanders Are Swearing Allegiance to ISIS’

President Donald Trump is reportedly considering sending more troops into Afghanistan — but it’s a quagmire into which he could be wading.

Apparently, an increasing number of Taliban terrorists have taken up with ISIS, swearing loyalties to this even more brutal terror group.

It’s already dangerous enough in Afghanistan for U.S. troops. Three American soldiers were just killed by an Afghan soldier this past weekend — an attack claimed by the Taliban, which said through a spokesperson it had infiltrated U.S. security forces.

These are called “green-on-blue” attacks, and they’re becoming bigger and bigger threats for U.S. troops.

Now add ISIS to the mix — and the danger level for American soldiers ratchets.

From RT:

“RT: The Taliban claimed to have infiltrated the Afghan Army. Is this likely and how big a problem does it pose?

“Michael Maloof [Pentagon]: Yes, it is. It has been for quite some time now. It clearly demonstrates two things. Number one, the Taliban is on the rise and especially in this one area, it is very remote and we have forces out there for training and assisting and they are not backed up by combat troops. Secondly, it also shows that the vetting process that the US is using somehow failed. There should have been something that was picked up on this Taliban commander’s background that could have kicked him out and denied him access to the Afghan Army. So, there appears to be a breakdown and I am sure the Pentagon is going to be investigating that.

“The problem that is emerging here is what is Donald Trump going to do in terms of putting there more troops, what kind of troops, would they have a combat role, would they have only a Special Forces’ role? And it looks like the effort that we have been doing for 15 years still hasn’t worked. We had 100,000 there, and that would add to 8,500, and if they put in another 3,000 to 8,000, it is almost meaningless. We lost focus, we don’t have a policy, we don’t have a strategy and there is no strategic thinking going into this whatsoever. I am concerned about it. And talking to people in recent days, it looks like it ultimately is going to require a political resolution and I think it is going to deal with people and countries in the region. It is their problem, Afghanistan is their problem. It should not be ours.

“RT: If the Taliban can infiltrate the Afghan forces, isn’t it strange that it took so long to decide and rethink what the US is doing in Afghanistan?

“MM: Afghanistan is known as the forgotten war, obviously, and the Taliban has shown not only increasing strength. We had them on the run and then we got diverted in 2003 when George Bush ordered 100,000 combat troops into Iraq, of all places. And we lost focus. And the Taliban was allowed to come back. And then we… changed the mission. And as a consequence, the Taliban filled the military and the political void. It is very clear now that if the US were to leave altogether, Kabul, the capital, would fall within three days. That is what I have been told by the US intelligence people there. It is a very dire situation. Trump has a real headache to deal with here. And this comes at a time when we are dealing with other issues in the area and the increase of the Taliban also joining ISIS. ISIS is rising as well in Afghanistan and the increasing number of Taliban commanders are swearing allegiance to ISIS.”