French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that French forces have killed an ISIS leader in Africa who is responsible for killing several U.S. troops and several French charity workers.
“The militant leader, Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui, oversaw a group that claimed responsibility for an attack in 2017 that killed four American soldiers who were on patrol with Nigerien forces,” The New York Times reported. “And in August 2020, Mr. Al-Sahraoui personally ordered the killing of six French charity workers and their Nigerien driver.”
“This is another major success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel,” Macron said in a tweet. “The Nation is thinking this evening of all its heroes who died for France in the Sahel in the Serval and Barkhane operations, of the bereaved families, of all of its wounded. Their sacrifice is not in vain. With our African, European and American partners, we will continue this fight.”
La Nation pense ce soir à tous ses héros morts pour la France au Sahel dans les opérations Serval et Barkhane, aux familles endeuillées, à tous ses blessés. Leur sacrifice n’est pas vain. Avec nos partenaires africains, européens et américains, nous poursuivrons ce combat.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) September 15, 2021
The news comes after ISIS killed 13 U.S. troops in Afghanistan a few weeks ago during a suicide bombing at the airport in Kabul.
A new report on Wednesday said that Gen. Austin Miller, the Commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan from 2018 through July of this year, allegedly warned Democrat President Joe Biden against withdrawing all forces from Afghanistan.
The report from Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich said that Miller strongly pushed back against intelligence reports that claimed that the Afghan military could hold off the Taliban for 1-3 years, indicating that they would collapse significantly faster. Miller allegedly made the remarks during a classified Senate Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday, according to multiple sources who spoke to the network.
“According to two members present for the hearing, Gen Miller passed his recommendations through the chain of command — that the US should keep a level of troops on the ground (2500 was the number at the time) in order to maintain stability given the Taliban threat assessment,” Heinrich wrote. “Miller’s view was troops should maintain holding pattern – potentially supplemented by add’l forces from allied nations – given the threat. Miller shared no recommendation on how long forces should have stayed, making clear he didn’t know what the end timeline would be.”
“Miller also said that he strongly dissented with the intel assessment that Afghanistan would fall to the Taliban between 1-3 years, saying he thought it would go much, much faster,” Heinrich continued. “Miller also said once his recommendation was turned down, it became his job to execute on the withdrawal order – and eventually, decisions like abandoning Bagram were made because of constraints and troop caps imposed by the President’s orders.”
Biden’s pullout from the country was marked by disturbing images and events, including people trying to jump on moving airplanes, falling off of airplanes, 13 U.S. soldiers being murdered in a terrorist attack, hundreds of Americans being left behind after the U.S. Military pulled out, and a seemingly innocent family being killed in a drone strike.
This article has been expanded after publication to include additional information.