Mark Milley
Mark MilleyReuters

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Wednesday that it’s “possible” the United States will seek to coordinate with the Taliban on counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan against Islamic State jihadists or others.

Speaking at a Pentagon news conference with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and quoted by The Associated Press, Milley called the Taliban “ruthless” and added, “Whether or not they change remains to be seen.”

He suggested that the recent cooperative arrangement with the Taliban at Kabul airport was not necessarily a model for the future.

“In war you do what you must in order to reduce risk to mission and force, not what you necessarily want to do,” Milley said.

Milley did not elaborate, and his comment did not appear to suggest immediate plans to work with the Taliban.

Austin sounded at least as skeptical as Milley regarding the possibility that the coordination in recent days at the Kabul airport suggests a future relationship with the Taliban.

“I would not make any leaps of logic to broader issues,” said Austin, according to AP.

On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the Pentagon will continue to conduct drone strikes against ISIS-K terrorists and other targets within Afghanistan when necessary, despite the withdrawal of the US military from the country.

"We have the capability from an over the horizon perspective of ensuring our national security interests are protected and defended," Kirby said during an interview with NPR. "And what I would tell you, without getting into hypotheticals or speculating about future operations, we're going to continue to maintain those capabilities and use them if and when we need to."