KABUL – The US Forces Commander in Afghanistan General John Nicholson saidthe Afghan forces’ offensives, backed by US Air Force, have prevented thecollapse of districts and provincial centers to the Taliban and othergroups.
The US general said the Afghan security and defense forces with the supportof the Resolute Support forces have inflicted heavy losses to the Talibanand other groups.
“The success of the Afghan operations around the country supported byResolute Support and US forces have caused the enemy high casualtieseverywhere. This has caused them to stop their attempts to seize provincialcapitals, to stop trying to seize districts and instead return to thesehorrible suicide attacks, which target civilians, innocent civilians, withindiscriminate bombing in the cities,” Nicholson told TOLOnews.
He added: “So this is something that exposes the hypocrisy of the Taliban.The Taliban pledged to not cause civilian casualties and now they aretaking credit for horrendous attacks that are killing hundreds ofcivilians, and we are committed to work with the Afghan security forces toprotect the Afghan people and to prevent this from happening in thefuture.”
Afghan Army Chief of Staff Gen. Sharif Yaftali said the recent airstrikesby Afghan and foreign forces have been ‘very effective’ and that theprogress of these operations will soon bring a positive change on thebattlegrounds.
“The recent (air) operations were very effective for suppressing theTaliban,” Yaftali told TOLOnews.
“You witnessed that the operations in Helmand and Badakhshan and otherparts of the north (of Afghanistan) were very successful, and another goodpoint of the operations was that they resulted in no civilian casualties.”
The foreign forces showed the heavy military equipment at the base and saidthey will use them to target terrorist strongholds.
“Our mission here is to “reign denial” and support operations of ResoluteSupport,” said Jonathan James, a US Army soldier in the east ofAfghanistan. He said the reign denial is the night operations conducted atnight in order to prevent civilian casualties.
This comes after a US Air Force B-52 bomber recently increased its strikesagainst insurgents in the north of the country after focused air raids inthe south.
The latest airstrike of the US B-52 bomber targeted Taliban hideouts, theirfighters and stolen Afghan National Army vehicles, according to US forcesin Afghanistan.
The airstrike has reportedly targeted Taliban strongholds, training campsand drugs processing centers in bordering areas between Afghanistan’sBadakhshan with Tajikistan and China.
Footage made public shows how the US B-52 bomber targets two narcoticscenters of insurgents in Helmand province – in the south of Afghanistan.
The recent move by the US Air Force was the first in the past 14 years inwhich a B-52 bomber targeted northern and north-eastern parts ofAfghanistan.
Jawzjan provincial officials – in the north of Afghanistan – confirmed thata B-52 airplane targeted Daesh centers in which 25 fighters were killed.
Analysts said the B-52 airstrikes targeted areas which are difficult forground forces to access and areas outside of government’s control.