The strong majority of US airstrikes in Afghanistan have hit ISIS targets in counter terrorism operations not al Qaeda, the top spokesman for Operation Resolute Support said. US Army Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, the deputy chief of staff for communication for the Resolute Support Mission, said the US has conducted about 230 airstrikes since the beginning of 2016 as part of the ongoing counter terrorism operation in Afghanistan. Of those, about two-thirds to three-quarters hit ISIS, with the remaining strikes focused on al Qaeda. The US still does have the authority to target Taliban fighters to support Afghan operations, but those are “defensive fires,” and statistics were not readily available, Cleveland said.
After years of serving as the bill-payer for other Pentagon priorities, munitions stockpiles are poised to get a major boost from the $150 billion reconciliation package unveiled by lawmakers in Congress this week, along with the defense industrial base to...