United States carried out airstrikes in Afghanistan: Pentagon

News of the US air strikes in Afghanistan came a day after the top US military officer acknowledged that the Taliban had gained “strategic momentum”, with their forces now controlling about half of Afghanistan’s more than 400 district centers.

However, the Pentagon has refrained from giving any specific details about its air strikes in Afghanistan.

“Without going into specifics, I can say that over the past few days we have acted through airstrikes in support of ANDSF (Afghan National Security and Defense Forces) but I won’t go into the tactical details of those strikes,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters Thursday at a news conference here.

“But we continue to be able and we continue, as the Minister said yesterday, to conduct air strikes in support of ANDSF,” he said.

The commander of US forces in the region, General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, Central Command, will retain the authority to call for airstrikes in support of Afghan forces until the US withdrawal from Afghanistan is complete.

According to a defense official, the US military has carried out about six or seven airstrikes in the past 30 days, mostly using drones to carry out the attacks, CNN reported.

A US defense official on Thursday said that the strikes targeted “captured military equipment that the Taliban [were] could be seized from ANDSF”, Voice of America reported.

“There are enemy troops, enemy troops are targeted” along with the captured devices, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

The Taliban have in recent days swept through Afghanistan, pushing back Afghan troops and seizing significant swaths of territory as the United States nears the end of its withdrawal.

US Central Command, the agency in charge of Afghanistan, said recently that the withdrawal of US forces was more than 95% complete.

chairperson Joe Biden has said withdrawals will be complete by the end of August.

About 650 troops will remain in the country to ensure the US diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, including the embassy, ​​and to assist in securing Kabul International Airport, a facility essential for travel. of diplomats.

Shared Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday that Taliban forces are putting pressure on 17 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals.

“There’s the possibility of a complete takeover by the Taliban or the possibility of any other scenario, breakup, warlordism, all sorts of other scenarios out there. We’re watching. very closely, I don’t think it’s over written yet,” he said.