Another huge hit! The U.S. brought air strikes back to the area of Tora Bora which is in Nangarhar province and killed 20 Taliban in the operation. Here's the details from The Long War Journal:
Now, this attack by U.S. air forces was inside of Afghanistan but it underlines just how much of the action lately has been right on the Pakistan border. This shows two things- first, that the U.S. and NATO are not leary of that Pakistan border and that there is a lot of Taliban activity coming into Afghanistan from Pakistan.
One of the other reasons the U.S. and NATO are having the kind of success they are with these high body counts of Taliban is the fact that the Taliban are sending in larger and larger groups at a time now. It appears that the Taliban are trying to assemble more fighters together so they have the firepower to take on forward operating bases and unfortunately for them, these larger groups are a much better target for airships.
US forces killed 20 Taliban fighters during airstrikes in Nangarhar province today in the latest in a series of attacks along the Pakistani border.
The US military targeted “a large group of militants” with “precision airstrikes” in the mountains of the Deh Bala district in Nangarhar, a press release from Combined Joint Task Force – 101 reported. Intelligence report indicated the Taliban were operating in the area. Geo TV reported 20 Taliban were killed in the attack.
Now, this attack by U.S. air forces was inside of Afghanistan but it underlines just how much of the action lately has been right on the Pakistan border. This shows two things- first, that the U.S. and NATO are not leary of that Pakistan border and that there is a lot of Taliban activity coming into Afghanistan from Pakistan.
One of the other reasons the U.S. and NATO are having the kind of success they are with these high body counts of Taliban is the fact that the Taliban are sending in larger and larger groups at a time now. It appears that the Taliban are trying to assemble more fighters together so they have the firepower to take on forward operating bases and unfortunately for them, these larger groups are a much better target for airships.
US forces kill 20 Taliban on Pakistani border
Nangarhar is home to Tora Bora, the location of the last major battle of US and Afghan allies aginst the Taliban and al Qaeda in the winter of 2002. Osama bin Laden and numerous senior al Qaeda leaders slipped the cordon and escaped into Pakistan.
The Deh Bala district borders the lawless Khyber tribal agency in Pakistan. Pakistani forces claim to be conducting an operation to root out extremists laying siege to Peshawar, but peace talks between the Lashkar-e-Islam and the government began just six days after the operation began.
The attack in Nangarhar is the latest in a series of engagements with company-sized Taliban forces in eastern Afghanistan. On July 4, the US military said it killed 16 Taliban fighters after an attack on a base in Kunar province, which borders Nangarhar to the north. The governor of Kunar claimed Afghan civilians were killed in the airstrike, and President Hamid Karzai has called for an investigation.
The Afghan Army and police and the US military have repelled a series of attacks in the border provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Khost over the past three weeks. The Taliban are attempting to destabilize the eastern region and overrun Afghan government centers. Attacks in the east are up by more than 40 percent from last year, according to the US military. More than 200 Taliban fighters have been killed during the clashes. Many of the attacks have originated from Pakistan.
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