US military defends airstrikes as Taliban warns of ‘consequences’
The US army on Sunday defended its airstrikes in opposition to Taliban fighters final week because the rebel group accused Washington of violating their signed settlement and warned of penalties if such actions continued.
The Taliban launched a significant offensive within the southern province of Helmand in a bid to take the provincial capital, prompting US airstrikes in help of Afghan safety forces, which had been being overrun.
“American forces have violated the Doha agreement in various forms by carrying out excessive airstrikes following the new developments in Helmand province,” Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Yousuf Ahmadi mentioned in an announcement on Sunday.
The US-Taliban settlement, signed in Doha, supplies for overseas forces to depart Afghanistan in trade for safety ensures and a pledge from the insurgents to sit down down with the Kabul administration to discover a peaceable settlement to many years of conflict.
“Responsibility and consequences from the continuation of such actions shall fall squarely on the shoulders of the American side,” Ahmadi warned, including that air and drone strikes had additionally been carried out in different provinces.
Col. Sonny Leggett, the spokesman for the US forces, denied that the strikes violated the settlement.
“The entire world has witnessed the Taliban`s offensive operations in Helmand – attacks which injured and displaced thousands of innocent Afghan civilians,” Leggett tweeted, reiterating a name for “all sides” to scale back violence.
Talks between Taliban and Afghan authorities negotiators started final month in Doha, however the course of has solely moved slowly, whereas violence has continued. Diplomats and officers have mentioned that is sapping the belief required for the talks to succeed.
After the Helmand preventing, US particular envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad mentioned on Thursday that the Taliban had agreed to “reset” their commitments and cut back the variety of casualties.
Earlier this month, the Taliban welcomed US President Donald Trump`s tweet that each one American troops needs to be “home by Christmas” – nicely earlier than the May 2021 timeline agreed in Doha.
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