The US carried out airstrikes throughout Afghanistan within the final a number of days as a part of an effort to assist the Afghan safety forces combating Taliban insurgents, the Pentagon has stated.
The information of US airstrikes in Afghanistan got here a day after America’s most senior navy officer admitted that the Taliban had gained “strategic momentum,” with their forces now controlling about half of Afghanistan’s greater than 400 district centres.The Pentagon, nonetheless, shunned giving any specifics of its airstrikes in Afghanistan.”Without speaking to specifics, I can say that in the last several days, we have acted through airstrikes to support the ANDSF (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) but I won’t get into tactical details of those strikes,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby instructed reporters on Thursday at a information convention right here.”But we continue to be able to and we continue to, as the Secretary said yesterday, conduct airstrikes in support of the ANDSF,” he stated.ALSO READ | Ground Report from Afghanistan: Kandahar focus of Afghan forces as Taliban encompass metropolisThe commander of US forces within the area, Central Command’s General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, would retain the authority to name for airstrikes in assist of Afghan forces till the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was full.According to a defence official, the US navy has carried out roughly six or seven strikes previously 30 days, principally utilizing drones to launch the strikes, CNN reported.A US defence official on Thursday stated that the strikes focused “captured military equipment that the Taliban [were] able to seize from the ANDSF,” the Voice of America reported.”There were enemy forces, enemy personnel targeted” alongside the captured tools, the official added, talking on the situation of anonymity due to the delicate nature of the knowledge.ALSO WATCH | Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan imminent?The Taliban in current days swept throughout Afghanistan, pushing again the Afghan navy and taking up vital swaths of territory because the US nears the ends of its withdrawal.US Central Command, which is in control of Afghanistan, stated lately that the withdrawal of US forces is greater than 95 per cent full.President Joe Biden has stated the withdrawal could be full by the tip of August.Approximately 650 troops are set to stay within the nation to safe the US diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, together with the embassy, and to help in securing Kabul’s worldwide airport, which is a vital facility for the motion of diplomats.General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated on Wednesday that Taliban forces have been placing stress on 17 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals.”There’s a possibility of a complete Taliban takeover or a possibility of any number of other scenarios, breakdown, warlordism, all other kinds of scenarios that are out there. We’re monitoring very closely, I don’t think the end game is yet written,” he stated.