US launches airstrikes in Afghanistan to combat Taliban’s advances

According to the Pentagon, the US has launched airstrikes across Afghanistan in the previous several days to help Afghan security forces combating Taliban militants. The announcement of US bombings in Afghanistan came only a day after America’s top military official conceded that the Taliban had gained “strategic momentum,” with their troops now holding about half of Afghanistan’s 400 district centres.

The Pentagon, on the other hand, has remained tight-lipped about its attacks in Afghanistan.

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“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 told reporters on Thursday at a news conference 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 said.

General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, the commander of US forces in the region, would maintain the power to order airstrikes in support of Afghan forces until the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was complete.

According to CNN, the US military has carried out around six or seven strikes in the last 30 days, most of which have been carried out using drones.

The attacks targeted “captured military equipment that the Taliban [were] able to seize from the ANDSF,” according to a US defence official quoted by Voice of America on Thursday.

“There were enemy forces, enemy personnel targeted”, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the material, alongside the confiscated equipment.

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As the US draws closer to the conclusion of its departure, the Taliban have stormed throughout Afghanistan, driving the Afghan troops back and seizing large swathes of land.

The US Central Command, which is in control of Afghanistan, recently stated that the departure of US soldiers had reached 95% completion.

The pullout, according to President Joe Biden, will be completed by the end of August.

Approximately 650 troops are expected to remain in Afghanistan to protect the US diplomatic presence, including the embassy, as well as to help in the security of Kabul’s international airport, which is a vital facility for diplomats.

Taliban troops are exerting pressure on 17 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals, according to General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“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 said.