UN nuclear watchdog inspects 2nd Iranian site, after standoff over access
|
|
|||
|
|
Readers Digest |
|
|
Pakistan's premier website that covers current affairs and news.
Boys Hostels and cheap accommodation in Rawalpindi
US launches first air strikes against Taliban since accord
LASHKAR GAH: The United States launched air strikes against Taliban in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, US officials said on Monday, after a large-scale offensive saw insurgents take over military bases in the region and close in on a key provincial capital.
(Subscribe to the Economist magazine now in India, Pakistan & Bangladesh).
The strikes, carried out over the last two days, mark a rare military intervention by the United States since it signed an agreement on troop withdrawal with the Taliban in February.
The deal provides for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan in exchange for security guarantees from the insurgent group, and a pledge to sit down with the Kabul administration to find a peaceful settlement to decades of war.
Fighting has continued despite several rounds of peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government negotiators in the Qatari capital of Doha over the past month.
A Special report on India's attempts to wish Kashmir issue away. Rs 50 in Pakistan
In the last two days, hundreds of Taliban fighters have stormed security checkpoints in Helmand, taking over key areas on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.
More Stories on Related Subjects
Why US wants to divide Syria?
As Ms May visits India Bangalore Rings Fear for Muslim community
.
Leggett quoted Gen Scott Miller, the commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan, calling on the Taliban to immediately stop their offensive in Helmand, which he said was “not consistent with the US-Taliban agreement and undermines the ongoing Afghan Peace Talks”.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the areas taken over by the group had been wrested from their control a few months earlier. “No new changes have occurred,” he said on Twitter.
Helmand’s police chief General Khalil-ur-Rahman Jawad told reporters that “tactical measures have been taken to prevent casualties, but security will soon be restored to restore order”. He said the Afghan Air Force had conducted strikes that had killed 170 insurgents over the last 24 hours
Subscribe to the Economist magazine print edition in Pakistan, India, Canada and other countries
October 2, 2018
Share your views at feedback@newsflash.com.pk
Send your contributions at editor@newsflash.com.pk