NEW YORK: The United States (US) military has stepped up its airstrikes andspecial operation raids on Taliban leaders and fighters in Afghanistan togive American negotiators leverage in peace talks with the militant group,The New York Times reported Saturday.
Citing unnamed Defence Department officials, the newspaper said the USattacks had reached the highest level since 2014, with the surge havingstarted during the fall, The peace talks followed President Donald Trump’sannouncement that he would begin withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan andwind down the nearly 18-year war.
The Times said the Taliban had complained about the increase in airstrikesand raids.
“They (Taliban) say they have learned from their mistakes of the past,”Zalmay Khalilzad, the American special envoy who is leading the talks, saidin a speech on Friday in Washington.
He said the Taliban did not want to be “a pariah state” and had told himthat they did not see a military solution to the conflict.
The military strategy, devised by General Austin Miller, the currentcommander of the American-led mission in Afghanistan, is similar to pastattempts to bleed the militant group, the report said.
But it is tied to a more specific ambition, coming as the United States isnegotiating directly with the Taliban.
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Last year, the United States dropped more than 7,000 bombs, missiles andother munitions on extremists in Afghanistan — up from 2,365 in 2014, theTimes said, citing military data.
Since September alone, the United States has launched about 2,100 air andartillery strikes in Afghanistan.
Additionally, according to the report, American and Afghan commandos morethan doubled the number of joint raids conducted from September to earlyFebruary, compared with the same five-month period a year earlier, themilitary data shows.
Generally, the joint forces conduct dozens of raids each month.
