US service members were on the Afghan base that was targeted by the Taliban on Friday. The US personnel sheltered in place at the facility, and “were not affected,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said. However, more than 140 Afghan National Army soldiers were killed in the attack. The US responded and assisted Afghan forces in ending the attack though US personnel were not directly involved in the fight, Davis said. Defense Secretary James Mattis visited Afghanistan on Monday and said the Taliban attack, which targeted soldiers as they were leaving a mosque, shows “They have no religious foundation. They are not devout anything.” Also Monday, a Taliban car bomb targeted a US-operated base in the Khost province. There were reportedly Afghan casualties, but no US personnel were harmed, according to Reuters.
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…